A few weeks ago, I made a few whiskey infusions, based on Fighting Cock bourbon. The choice was made for Fighting Cock since it was the cheapest one I had sitting around that I also like.
I got the idea of making infusions based on some articles I read on it, I believe Dave Broom wrote about it in one of his columns for Whisky Magazine. Also the release of Jim Beam Red Stag reminded me to try some of those things.
I made four different infusions after having tried one with lime (with Ballantines). That one didn’t turn out too good, since it tasted like LOADS of lime and alcohol, exactly like a cleaning product.
The four things I used to make these infusions were ginger, chili pepper, mixed peppercorns and wild strawberries. The resulting colour was quite surprising, since the bourbon took on a very dark hue from the peppercorns and strawberries. The other ones turned rather pale. The strawberries themselves were almost white after four weeks in bourbon, they started out bright red.
Note: These infusions had been infusing for way too long. I planned to have them sitting stewing for about a week, but I didn’t have time to sit down properly and have a go at them until yesterday, which was four weeks down the road.
Ginger
This one was pure ginger. It smelled like those pink sliced ginger pieces you sometimes get in a sushi restaurant. I didn’t get any hints of bourbon anymore and thus consider this a big failure. It might be nice if you infuse it for only a few days so you add the ginger to the bourbon, instead of letting it conquer the Fighting Cock. Its pretty spicy though!
Wild strawberries
This one is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. The bourbon is still very much present, but there is a slight vegetal note in the background. Like there are some plants in it, instead of a fruit. Of course, those wild strawberries don’t have much flavour of themselves anyway. The taste is pretty nasty. Like you’re licking the bourbon of plants after working in the garden. Really bad. Failure number two.
Chili pepper
The smell of bourbon is still present, but the chili is more pungeant. Almost like stewed bell peppers. The flavour is quite spicy but in this case the bourbons makes it a bit more smooth. Never expected that! This one has definetly been infusing for too long, but I might be on to something if I keep an eye on it and test every day…
Peppercorns
I didn’t expect this one to do much, since you usually crush the peppercorns to release their flavour. Quite the contrary! I could smell the pepper upon walking into the livingroom. The bourbon adds a perfumy flowery scent to the pepper. This one is too nasty to even taste. I didn’t want to ruin my palate for the rest of the night.
Conluding, I can say this is an utter failure. I will try the ginger and chili pepper again, but only for a few days before trying it. The pepper and strawberries were nasty, and will not be repeated. I will also be trying more sweet ingredients, since the savory ones were all quite doubtful.
Malt Fascination 
Not a great success rate, but I love whisk(e)y experimentation, so kudos to you for giving it a try.
I’ve been thinking about trying to infuse young and bland whisky with a range of things you can find on the nose and palate in an older whisky, to see if I can get some approximations of older whiskies. Obviously, I don’t expect them to be like the real thing, but I’m curious to see exactly what can be achieved.
I have also tried to fat wash a blended whisky, after reading about fat washed bourbon in Whisky Magazine a few months back. Sadly, that was a failure too, it tasted rancid. I’m not sure whaere I went wrong, but perhaps malt whisky just isn’t as well suited as bourbon.
Now I’m trying to create my own chill-filtered whisky using my freezer and filter papers. I’m doing four different whiskies and plan to have a tasting with the four originals and the four chill-filtered versions side by side. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Very cool experiments. I am planning to do a fat wash as well. Read about it in WhiskyMag and some online pieces, and it sounds interesting.
My next attempt at infusions will be with some fruits, like cherries and such. Maybe I’ll think of other stuff as well, but that will happen as soon as I have recovered from these disgusting things 😉
I’ve not done much experimenting with whisky infusions (other than butter washing – which worked really well: http://bbblog.org.uk/2010/12/butter-washed-whisky/), but my sour cherry rye (which I finally managed to lever the lid off last week) seems to be coming on well…only 6 months in.
The secret to fat-washing (from my limited playing) is to use good fat (I bought new butter rather than using the pack that I’d had in the fridge for a bit) and not leave it in the whisky long – just long enough for the whisky and fat to separate again after mxing. I also ran mine through some coffee filters.
I was surprised to hear your strawberry experiment didn’t work, as I’ve found strawberry and american whiskey work quite well. The next recipe for me is to refine the strawberry ratafia I made last year – 1/3rd bourbon, 1/3rd sugar syrup, 1/3rd strawberry syrup (made by cooking strawberries in water until they broke down into syrup). I’ll be taking the sugar syrup out this time, as it was rather too sweet before.
Now to work out what to do with this pot of cocoa nibs…vodka, whisky or gin? Hmm 🙂
I will try it again with proper strawberries. This time I used wild strawberries that were growing in our yard… It was the only kind I had available at the time.
They barely have any flavour at all, and what you can taste is not too good either. I knew beforehand this would be shite…
I’d not heard much about wild strawberries before this came across my desk the other week:
http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-14723.aspx
They might be one better to make a liqueur with – a bit of flavourless vodka for the booze and some sugar to hide the nasty flavours 🙂
I make a raspberry whiskey, it is quite good, you need 750 ml of a decent whiskey to start with, usually Jameson, Powers, or similar, put in a squirt of honey, couple pounds of raspberrys, 10 days or so, agitating daily. On the 10th day, I’ll strain it into a pan, add a cup of sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice and heat just enough to dissolve the sugar. Cool and bottle. Everyone who tries it absolutely loves it. I have tried more assertive whiskeys and it usually doesn’t work as well, the mild blends give you enough whiskey flavor combined with the fruit to make a wonderful drink.
And my wife also uses the leftover raspberrys in a angel food cake, the color may not be there, but there is still plenty of flavor.
Cool! I’ll probably try some more when we’ve been to the shop next week. I’m still trying to find a good recipe before I go over to infusing full bottles. If they turn out as bad as the previous batch, I want to only have wasted an ounce or so!
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