Tobacco Infusions

E

Ego Archive

Young Ape
So while watching a food type network show a couple weeks back, I watched a show about various alcohols. One of the segments showed a couple that make "Artisinal" infused alcohols. Being bored, I decided I wanted to take a stab at this with a slight twist. As a pipe and a cigar smoker I like a wide range of tobaccos, and the only "tobacco infusion" I have heard of was a product called "Perique", you can guess what's used in there. For my first run (I actually made two wildly different recipes) I used 100 proof Vodka as the distilling agent.

The first recipe used 3 parts pressed virginia (McClelland CC 2002), 1 part orange peel, 1 part cloves, and a few other things(proprietary recipe). :D

It worked out pretty good(actually recieved good reviews); from suggestions of those that sampled it, I have adjusted the recipe (the biggest change was to go to 151 rum), and will try it again in about a month.

The second recipe didn't work out as well, a different tobacco (Latakia), and herbs, and it ended up like smoky Quinine.

So, onto the question part of the thread. Has anyone else here tried brewing/or blending with tobacco? How did it work for you, if you've tried it.

I'm thinking of adjusting the second recipe, and cutting down the Latakia, and making the main component a Maduro cigar leaf. I'm trying for something reminiscint of the smokiness of Scotch, but not the Peatiness. what are your thoughts?
 
very cool - I've always been really curious about that perique liqueur....
 
Sounds interesting. What prompted the 151 suggestion? I'd be afraid the alcohol taste/burn would overpower your infusions. Are you trying to get a neutral spirit, or do you want the rum flavor?
 
Mark C said:
Sounds interesting. What prompted the 151 suggestion? I'd be afraid the alcohol taste/burn would overpower your infusions. Are you trying to get a neutral spirit, or do you want the rum flavor?
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Originally I was going for a neutral spirit, but pretty much everyone agreed that the "sweeter" body of rum would compliment the flavor profile more then the neutral spirit.

The people producing this in the show I watched, use 90% ethanol, then diluted the product with spring water. Unfortunately do to silly laws in Minnesota, I do not have access to alcohol with that high of a proof. I used 100 proof Vodka, and mixed it with the same amount of distilled water to bring the proof down to 50ish. I will probably bring the ending proof of the second batches down to about 50-60 as well.
 
Ego Archive said:
Originally I was going for a neutral spirit, but pretty much everyone agreed that the "sweeter" body of rum would compliment the flavor profile more then the neutral spirit.
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If you want the rum characteristics, I'd avoid 151. Try Cruzan Diamond Estate, or Single Barrel. Those both have a nice barrel/oak flavor that may work well with the tobacco. The Single Barrel will cost you more, but is a little sweeter and has more of that 'oak' characteristic. Then again if you want your infusion flavors to be more dominant, the Diamond might be a better choice.
 
Mark C said:
If you want the rum characteristics, I'd avoid 151. Try Cruzan Diamond Estate, or Single Barrel. Those both have a nice barrel/oak flavor that may work well with the tobacco. The Single Barrel will cost you more, but is a little sweeter and has more of that 'oak' characteristic. Then again if you want your infusion flavors to be more dominant, the Diamond might be a better choice.
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I actually used Cruzans' 2yr aged (oak barrel) 151 for my second two batches. I'll let you know how it turns out, and if the 151 is too much. I'm going to be putting together a Maduro/Latakia infusion tonight(using the rest of the Vodka), and will probably age that one for a few weeks, just so I can get faster turn around for recipe adjustments.
 
I ran into some issues with the batches I created, to the point that I scrapped the bottles I had. I have shelved it for a bit, to consider my options. What I have run into so far, is the the "tobacco" undercurrent is too strong, and creates a "back of the throat" burn like what you experience with chewing tobacco if you swallow rather than spit. While this might be good with a small portion of the population (people who chew regularly), it wasn't positive for the majority of my testers.

I think I'm going to have to pursue, normal spice infusions, then when I stumble upon a combination that works, I might be able to introduce tobacco as a very minor part of the recipe.
 
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