The Bacon-tini

This review was provided by my brother-in-law who invented this pork-tastic creation and wished to share this review with us. I look forward to trying this fantastic take on the current cocktail craze!

After having a wondrously pork-tastic meal, this drink was created. The perfect digestif after a cheese and pork masterpiece, it settles the stomach and caresses your palatte. The meal started with a selection of cheeses, including some cave aged gouda raclette, then we enjoyed a caesar salad where we substituted thin sliced, dried wild boar jerky (a bacon-like delicacy), and enjoyed schnitzel and Hugo's double smoked hickory bacon, (lean cut thick sliced of course). You can see the 5 star comments about the supplier of these flavourful meats provided by a multi-ribbon winner (in the meat division) from the Royal Winter Fair - Hugo's Meats on the attached weblink.

After the meal, one slice of bacon was saved, a slightly overcrisp piece that had a tight curl to one end. Here is how the recipe worked:

one part Quintessential gin (a very smooth flavour, much like Tanqueray Ten), one part Hendrick's gin (a gin with rich botanicals and floral scent, balanced well with the icy smoothness of Quintessential). 1/4 ounce of lichee liqueur. Theory here is to use the sweetness of lichee to balance against the salts of the bacon. Generously shave lemon peel into the pre-chilled glass. combine the liquids in your martini shaker, and shake vigourously. pour into the glass of lemon zest, and drape the glorious pork over the side. The lemon zest adds a near celestial sparkling quality, and adds to the citrus under-note of the gins. It also matches well with the natural flavour of the hickory in the bacon.

At first taste, I felt the heavens open up, and angles sing - a peace came over me and all was right with the world. After the bacon soaked up some of the lovely mixture, I took a bite of the saturated end. Harps played from heaven, the angels broke into a louder chorus. At that point, the Dalai Lama appeared to me asking how we were able to find such inner peace, wanting to learn the secret. For that brief moment, people laid down their guns in the middle east and gave each other hugs, and suicide bombers took off their bomb vests and made pottery.

Each person at the table was given the gift of a small bite until we reached dry bacon. Then the dry piece was snapped in two and immersed in the lush mixture. At the end of the drink, these 2 pieces of bacon were shared around the table to thunderous applause and glee.

All people involved knew they'd witnessed something akin to Einstein's unlocking the power of the atom, or Galileo placing the Sun at the centre of the solar system.

Okay, maybe I'm being a little overdramatic, but it was really really good.