Bacon and beer. Two food groups. Two concepts. Two things that go together. Together, traditionally, in the same way that milk goes with cereal. But together, in this post, in the same way that cocoa goes with rice bubbles…
I thought bacon jam was the pinnacle of culinary innovation, and then Brooklyn Brewery is putting together a special brew…
“It’s a special malt that was smoked in the same room with some of the bacon made by the legendary Allan Benton. “It’s almost terrifying how much the malt smells like bacon,” Mr. Oliver said.
He plans to brew about 15 gallons of barleywine with that malt. In the meantime, he’s been infusing a brown ale with the flavor of Benton’s bacon fat through a technique known as “fat washing.” Oh, and the bacon-fat-infused ale was also aged in bourbon barrels, because bourbon and bacon go together like, um, beer and bacon.
Eventually, the barleywine with the bacon-smoked malt and the bourbon-aged, bacon-fat-infused ale would be blended to create one monstrously bizarre beer.
Sounds delicious. Unfortunately it probably won’t ever be made available for purchase…
“Unfortunately, the answer is nyet. Brooklyn Brewery made 21 cases of Reinschweinsgebot for special events, which isn’t enough for even limited commercial distribution. And don’t expect it to go wide anytime soon. Oliver tells us that “the technique we used — which comes originally out of the perfume industry — involves transferring an aroma from a fat to a liquid without actually transferring the fat itself. Then to completely remove the fat and have none left in the liquid, it was very tricky.” However, he says he’s open to finding a way to simplify the process so that plebeians can one day enjoy bacon beer, too. Fingers crossed.”
