By Janelle Alberts
It’s been almost 20 years since a bacon-infused Benton’s Old-Fashioned launched a new technique among bartenders called fat-washing.
Despite the unappetizing name, fat-washing has so gained in popularity over the years because it continues to deliver a legitimately elevated cocktail.
Fat-washing is a fairly simple process of freezing your spirit with fats that you later strain, leaving your alcohol with a thoroughly balanced mouthfeel and
textured flavor that is, well, pretty great.
“We all know how to do bright, refreshing, herbal cocktails,” said Michael McElroy, a seasoned mixologist who helped launch Rosslyn’s upscale speakeasy, Salt, and is now the lead distiller for its parent restaurant, Open Road Distilling Co. “But fat-washing is really a unique way of actually getting that umami
factor into a drink.”
Umami is our taste sensation for savory but with oomph. When they were first opening Salt, McElroy was inspired by a brown butter, mushrooms, and thyme combo that he improvised into an earthy, umami-bomb fat-wash so out of this world, McElroy said, “That
cocktail stayed on the menu for a long time.”
If the concept still sounds odd for today’s upscale mixologist set, consider its roots. Fat-washing was a bartender’s brainchild in the early 2000s at a time when craft cocktails were having a moment. It is a riff off an ancient technique of steeping flower petals in fat and extracting their scent into the oil that could then be used for perfume.
Experimenting at home with the technique is relatively easy. Just mix your alcohol of choice with your liquid fat of choice (really shake it up). Freeze overnight. The next day, break off the frozen fat then strain the alcohol through a coffee filter until it runs clear.
Read on for a cooler weather fat-wash recipe that McElroy recommends for the holidays.
Grandma’s Back Room Bridge Game
1 ½ ounces brown butter or bacon fat-washed
rye whiskey, instructions at right
¼ ounce Averna Amaro
¼ ounce turbinado sugar
2 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters
2 dashes Angostura cocoa bitters
Orange peel, instructions at right
To build your bottle of fat-washed whiskey, combine 10 ounces brown butter/bacon fat with one bottle of rye whiskey in a freeze-safe container. Place in freezer until frozen. Strain off whiskey. Strain again through a coffee filter to catch any remaining particulates.
Next, combine all cocktail ingredients into a mixing glass and stir for 30–50 seconds. Prepare a rocks glass with a large ice cube if possible and strain over cube. Slice and manicure an orange peel and express the oils over the top of the cocktail. Twist and drop orange peel into the cocktail. Serve and enjoy!
This article originally appeared in the December 2024 issue.
