Bacon Bourbon Infusion Cocktail

I love the thought of Infusions but never thought I would dabble with them until I saw some interesting posts on on Facebook. This got me thinking so I did some googling and low and behold there are countless versions all over the place. Some use Sous-Vide and some do not. The beauty of Sous-Vide is time. You can make the infusions in about 3 hours instead of weeks. My infusion versions climbs on the backs of those that came became before mine....thanks guys. People that are willing to experiment and share what they have learned along the way are truly inspirational. 

This recipe is all about what I like to eat and drink. Anyhow on to the infusion. Anyone that has been following along knows that I love bacon. More importantly is my love for my Beef Bacon . I also like good whiskey!!! What a combination. I used what was available in my refrigerator which was Maple Peppered Beef Navel Bacon. I did not purchase expensive Bourbon either. I wanted to try it first with the cheap stuff and if I liked it I would buy some good stuff like Makers. Heck if it tastes good with the cheap stuff I can only imagine what the good stuff will taste like.

Some pre-planning I set my Sous-Vide at 135˚ƒ (I have seen temps from 125-150˚ƒ). I used two standard 16 oz Ball Canning jars that were sterilized first. Sterilization was probably not necessary because of the alcohol but you can never be to safe.

I used two large oranges per 16 oz jar.  note: I should have used my fine-micro-planer grater which would have been much better. 

Use a sharp knife to scrape off the pith. Again using a fine-micro-planer I could have captured just the zest. Maybe next time.

Place the oranges pieces and a 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup in the jar.

Toss in bacon and fill with Bourbon.

Cap it off and give it a few shakes.

Jar sitting in 135˚ƒ Sous-Vide thermal bath. It will sit here for 3 hours. 

All done....I waited about an hour and rinsed them under cold water then placed them in the freezer. We don't want meat or fat in our infusions do we. Freezing them will solidify the fat so we can filter out the bourbon. 

Look at that beautiful fat. I first used a sieve than filtered it through a cheese cloth twice. 

Review at the bottom...

On a scale from 1-10 it was a 10 for flavor. If you like a heavy bacon orange flavor you will love this. Extremely rich though. The infusion took a below average bourbon and made it better then expected. Cannot drink to much which might be a good thing. It could make a good appetizer to a meal. If I was to make this again I would use half the orange and bacon just for the sake of comparison. 

Update- August 14, 2016- After about 30 hours the infusion mellowed. I won't change a thing.