Fat-washed cocktails have popped up on many cocktail menus since the process was popularized around 2007 by PDT bartender Don Lee, who used smoky bacon fat-infused bourbon in his Benton's Old Fashioned recipe.
The process of fat-washing can be used to add savory flavor or a richer texture. "'Fat-washing' has really only become popular in the last 20 years," says OAK at Fourteenth Beverage Director Collin Griffith. “Bartenders have tried all sorts of combinations from animal fats, nut oils, etc. to impart flavor to a spirit. I find that fat-washing also imparts a textural element to a spirit as well giving it a rounder and more silky mouthfeel."
The process is fairly simple. All you need is a source of hot, liquid fat such as sesame oil, peanut butter oil, melted butter, coconut oil, or melted bacon fat. Add this liquid fat to your desired spirit and let the mixture sit at room temperature for a few hours. From there, place the mixture in the freezer overnight so that the fat solidifies on top. Scoop out as much fat as possible and then strain the spirit using a cheesecloth, coffee filter, or strainer.
Today, bartenders are going beyond brown spirits to fat-wash gins, vodkas, rums, and more.
Take the Dueling Hongos recipe from OAK at Fourteenth in Boulder, Colorado, which fat-washes a sugar cane distillate spirit similar to rum.
Dueling Hongos - “Fighting Mushrooms”
Recipe courtesy of Boulder’s OAK at Fourteenth
Ingredients:
1 oz. duck fat-washed Sol Tarasco Charanda con Hongos (or your favorite rum)
0.75 oz Amaro Montenegro
0.75 oz Laws Whiskey House Rye Whiskey (or your favorite whiskey)
2 dashes Cocktail Punk’s OAK Bitters
2 dashes Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
Directions:
For the duck fat infusion, combine 16 oz. Sol Tarasco and 150g duck fat and let it sit at room temp covered for 4 hours. Transfer to the freezer until all the fats solidify. Strain out all of the fat through a cheesecloth and pour into a bottle. Refrigerate.
For the cocktail, add all ingredients to a mixing glass, fill with ice, stir for about one minute. Strain to a chilled coupe glass. Express orange twist and garnish.
About 40 minutes away in Denver, Colorado, Deviation Distilling launched an extensive fat-washed summer menu with vegan and meat fat-washes ranging from butter to feta to pistachio to sesame oil. Most of the recipes included fat-washed gins:
- Passion Mousse with Butter-Washed Citrus Rosé Gin, housemade passion fruit mousse and velvet falernum with aquafaba
- Deviate From the Norm with Feta Olive Oil-Washed Mountain Herb Gin, housemade dry vermouth, orange bitters and saline solutions
- Mango Lassi with Pistachio-Washed Blood Orange Gin, mango purée, lime juice, cardamom bitters, housemade yogurt liqueur and saffron rose water
Deviation also had a cocktail called Sesame State of Mind, which you can find the full recipe for below.
Sesame State of Mind
Ingredients:
1.25 oz sesame oil-washed Deviation Spice Trade gin (or your favorite gin)
.5 oz ginger liqueur
.75 lemongrass syrup
1 oz. coconut milk
6 dashes Thai chili or a spicy bitters
1-inch chunk of cucumber
Lime (garnish)
Directions:
For the fat-washed sesame oil gin, combine 750-ml of gin and 1.5 oz of sesame oil in a container. Leave the mixture out on the counter for four years, stirring the container a few times. After infusing it for four hours, place in freezer for 24 hours. After 24 hours, remove from the freezer and place into a larger container (such as a seven-quarter square Cambro). Pour the mixture through a strainer (ideally a Chinois strainer) with a filter in it (ideally an oil filter). Let drain thoroughly while in the freezer. Once the entire liquid goes through the Chinois strainer, the process is done.
For the lemongrass syrup, chop 250g of lemongrass. Add lemongrass and 2.5 liters to a pot. Simmer for 20 minutes over medium heat. Strain. Measure weight, then add equal parts of sugar to a container.
For the cocktail, muddle cucumber. Dry shake and strain. Add to rocks glass. Add all remaining ingredients (except bitters and garnish) to rocks glass. Add bitters. Stir. Garnish with lime.
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