fat washing

refers to a process for infusing alcohol with flavorful fats, which takes advantage of the fact that most fat-soluble aromatic compounds are also soluble in alcohol. Although fat washing is relatively new in the context of spirits and cocktails, it is inspired by a technique of considerable antiquity known as enfleurage, in which odorless fat is infused with the scent of fragrant botanical material such as flowers and subsequently exposed to alcohol in order to transfer the aromatic molecules from the fat to the liquid. See infusion.

In the context of spirits and cocktails the fat washing technique allows bartenders to achieve flavors that otherwise would not be possible. In order to produce a fat washed spirit, liquid and/or liquefied fat is combined with the spirit and allowed to infuse for a brief period of time, after which the fat is removed either by chilling the mixture sufficiently to solidify the fat or by using a separatory funnel or other device to separate the liquids by density.Although fat-washed spirits have come to be more frequently used, they have most notably been employed in so-called molecular mixology cocktails by such bartenders as Eben Freeman, Don Lee, Sam Mason and Tony Palomino. The most widely known cocktail using a fat-washed spirit is the Benton’s Old Fashioned developed in 2008 by Don Lee for PDT, the pioneering New York City neo-speakeasy, which uses bourbon that has been fat washed with bacon fat as the base spirit. See speakeasy (new).

See also cocktail renaissance, molecular mixology.

Arnold, Dave. Liquid Intelligence. New York: Norton, 2014.

By: Samuel Lloyd Kinsey