Seattle’s Oliver’s Lounge at the Mayflower Park Hotel in June introduced a new cocktail that puts a meaty twist on the classic Bloody Mary — by using a bacon flavor-infused vodka from a local distillery.
Patrick Donnelly, head bartender at Oliver’s Lounge, said that infusing flavors into vodka, even savory bacon, is a practice that’s been around for a while. And once Oliver’s discovered that a local distillery was producing a bacon vodka, the powers that be decided they had to have it on the menu.
The Bloody B.L.T. is made with bacon-flavored vodka, tomato juice and a dash of salt mixture made of celery and kosher salt with fennel seeds. The drink is rolled in a Boston shaker to combine the ingredients and then is poured into a chilled glass half-rimmed with kosher salt. It’s garnished with one half of a bacon strip, a leaf of romaine heart and a cherry tomato. The Bloody B.L.T. is priced at $8.