Drinks · PDT, New York

Benton's Old Fashioned

Also Bacon old fashioned, Fat-washed old fashioned

Bourbon washed with bacon fat, stirred down with maple and Angostura: the drink that made fat-washing a bar technique.

What makes it benton's old fashioned

  • Bourbon washed with bacon fat: about 45ml of melted fat to a 750ml bottle, 4 hours at room temperature, 2 in the freezer, then the fat lifted off and the bourbon fine-strained
  • Maple syrup, not sugar
  • Stirred and served on the rocks, with an orange twist

Where it comes from

Don Lee created it at PDT, in New York's East Village, soon after the bar opened in 2007 — sources put its debut in 2007 or 2008. The idea came from the WD-50 circle, where Eben Freeman and Sam Mason were already washing spirits with fat.

The method spread to every kind of fat — brown butter, sesame oil, coconut — because it carries a flavour into a spirit and leaves the grease behind.

Versions here

Make your own benton's old fashioned
1 version
v4Fat-washed old fashioned, brown butterRosa Ibarra · v4With brown butter-washed bourbon · With orange bitter · No bacon fat-washed bourbon

Near it

The cocktail barNegroniGin, Campari and sweet vermouth in equal parts, stirred: bitter, sweet and strong at once.No one here has made it yetThe cocktail barRoasted Corn SourA whiskey sour on Mexican corn whisky, sweetened with a syrup of charred corn and its cobs.1 version here