Can You Add Cheese in a Cocktail?

March has been a pretty exciting month so far! The month kicked off on a high note after I chatted with James Atkinson on his podcast Drinks Adventures and then I flew to Melbourne for a Gin Festival and met some amazing people! I finished off the month by booking flights to Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Whisky Festival! Anyone keen for a cocktail in HONG KONG!?

🎥 VIDEOS

Ever tried adding cheese into a cocktail!? The Parmesan Espresso Martini has been doing the rounds on Tik Tok lately so I thought I'd give it a shot.. as you can see by my face, it was... erm... interesting. Watch the vid.

MORE (AND BETTER) SAVOURY COCKTAILS

• Popcorn Bourbon Cocktail | Cocktail Time with Kevin Kos

• A Brillianty Bloody Mary | Behind the Bar with Cara Devine

🔥 TIP OF THE WEEK

Fat-wash your spirits! It might sound a little gross... or difficult... but it's neither! It's an excellent way to infuse flavour into whiskey, rum, vodka, etc.

I believe it was Don Lee, former bartender at New York bar PDT, who first started using this technique for making drinks when he incorporated smoky bacon into an Old Fashioned (named the Benton's Old Fashioned, featured on page 54 of Steve the Bartender's Cocktail Guide).

The technique is surprisingly simple. Heat your choice of fat (100-200g) until it melts, add it to a lidded container with spirit, infuse for 3-4 hours, freeze for 2-3 hours, skim the fat off the top and strain through a cheesecloth. Bottle it, store it in the fridge and you're done!

Here are some great fat-washing combinations:

• Bacon + whiskey

• Coconut oil + rum

• Buttered popcorn + vodka

• Olive oil + gin

Let me know in the comments if you try any experiments yourself

🔥 RECOMMEND READING

Fellow Aussie YouTuber, Cara Devine from Behind the Bar, is about to release her cocktail book, Strong, Sweet and Bitter which dives into the "flavour triangle" - a concept about balancing three drink elements. The book is officially released on the 5th of April, preorder a copy here. The first drink I'll be making from the book is her favourite riff on a martini, The Jabberwocky!

Hope you’ve enjoyed today's issue of The Stir Down?

Cheers,

Steve the Bartender

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