Before Don Lee at NYC’s PDT cocktail bar put bacon fat in bourbon in an Old Fashioned in 2007, nobody had heard of fat-washed cocktails. It’s one of those techniques that seems like it’s been around much longer than it actually has. Perhaps because, at its core, it’s centuries old: Parisian perfumiers have been practicing it since the days of Louis XIV. Fat is soluble in alcohol; by allowing it to infuse with alcohol (and, in the case that you are going to drink it and not spray it behind your ears, a liquor) the aromatics and flavors of said fat are conveyed by its host. Whether that is fat from peanut or pig matters not. Some drinkers, whether for dietary reasons or simple revulsion at the idea of sipping on said swine, would rather opt for a plant-based version. Though, in reality you are consuming slim to nil fat in either case, since the solids are removed.
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Fat washing is a trick of the senses. You might fat wash vodka with butter. Left behind is the ghost of the butter—its taste and smell, maybe some mouthfeel, but almost none of its fat. Those cocktails have occupied a quirky spot on craft cocktail menus for at least a decade, but more recently vegan counterparts have been making the scene. Sesame oil and peanut butter paved the way for hazelnuts and pistachios and
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
