Bacon-Flavored Bourbon Elusive in SF, Though You Might Score a Taste in Alameda

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BarCeluna's Melanie Hartman starts with Four Roses bourbon

It's a signature of trendy Manhattan speakeasy PDT: bacon-infused bourbon, the basis of a killer old fashioned subtly sweetened with maple syrup. San Francisco may have deftly mined the bacon desserts trend (see Tamara Palmer's fave five list), but bacon bourbon has yet to drop -- though the operative word may well be yet.

Curious about pig-spiked hooch? Steer your Hyundai to the semi-wilds of Alameda in the East Bay, ask the right barkeep, and it's likely you'll be able to score a slug. Melanie Hartman, an owner of the restaurant BarCeluna (2319 Santa Clara at Park, Alameda), has an off-the-menu stash of bacon bourbon she's been quietly experimenting with. "I've just kind of been playing around with it," Hartman told SFoodie. For her first batch, Hartman used Jim Beam. The latest effort contains Four Roses, steeped overnight with the fat from applewood-smoked bacon, refrigerated, and strained through a coffee filter. "Bourbons with a really smoky flavor to begin with don't work so well," Hartman said. "A sweeter, mellower, less complex one really lets the taste of the bacon come through."

Hartman is thinking about offering a full-blown cocktail made with the stuff, something that combines maple syrup or egg whites, perhaps, something breakfasty. In the meantime, Hartman advises sipping her bacon bourbon neat.

The city's forays into swine booze have been private affairs. Bloodhound bartender Dylan O'Brien engineered a batch of bacon bourbon for the old fashioneds served at a pig roast in May, but owner Mike Goebel said there are no plans to make the smoky hooch a permanent offering. Pity.