Cooking Lesson #488: Peanut Butter Jelly Cocktail

…from the Perspectives’ Happy Hour Bar

ow you doin? This is a keep an open mind Friday afternoon happy hour cocktail. If you haven’t yet tried it, ask your local bartender for a small sample sip of Peanut Butter Whiskey and soon you’ll be out picking up a bottle to go home to up your cocktail game. I know I did. Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey is perhaps the best-known example of the peanut-flavored whiskies, but it’s far from the only one.
 
With flavored whiskies are all the rage lately (in an attempt to convert current vodka and liqueur drinkers to whiskey drinkers), it’s useful to consider how we got here. Back before you could buy PB-flavored liqueur, bartenders and mixologists were using a process called fat washing to combine the delicious, nutty beauty that is peanut butter with bourbon and whiskey. Many bourbons and whiskies have nutty notes – both in the nose and on the palate. Combining those together is a natural match.
 
In fat washing, a food product full of fat, like peanut butter, bacon fat, or browned butter is combined with whiskey, left to sit for a few hours, then moved to a freezer for 24 hours until the solids from the fat have frozen at the top of the container. The mixture is strained through a fine-mesh sieve, then a coffee filter (which may take several hours) until the resulting whiskey is flavorful but translucent.
 
Fat washing adds both flavor and mouthfeel to a spirit. Whiskey becomes creamier and more viscous. With something like peanut butter as the flavoring agent, it reminds me of taking a huge bite of a PB sandwich with the thick mouthfeel throughout. With the current brands commercially available, the liqueurs have tilted to the sweet side of the spectrum, and although they are full of peanut butter flavor, they don’t have quite the depth of flavor of a naturally fat-washed whiskey.
 
If you’re having problems finding peanut butter whiskey at your local stores, head to Curiada, an online marketplace, to have it delivered straight to your house! Every time I try a fun spirit in a liquor store and bring a bottle home, I face the same question that you do: exactly what goes with peanut butter whiskey (or whatever I’ve brought home)?  Well, here’s what I did with Peanut Butter Whisky.
 
Okay, Bob and Ryan (National Peanut Board)… this one’s for you.  Using the Perfect Manhattan template, add a touch of Chambord (to stand in for the jelly and the sweet part of the sweet vermouth), dry vermouth and cut back the bourbon ratio just a bit to add in the flavored whiskey. This is a refined version of most peanut butter whiskey drinks. A true bourbon lover is most likely to enjoy as it plays off the nuttiness of the base bourbon and the butterscotch flavor from the flavored whiskey.
 
Prep time:  3 minutes
Yield:  1 cocktail
 
Ingredients 
1-1/2 ounces American bourbon whiskey
1/2 ounce peanut butter whiskey
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
1/2 ounce Chambord Black Raspberry Liqueur
2 dashes chocolate bitters (Scrappy’s or Batterman’s)
Fresh raspberries (garnish)
 
Directions

1. Combine the bourbon, peanut butter whiskey, dry vermouth, Chambord and chocolate bitters in a mixing glass.
2. Add ice. Stir until very well-chilled.
3. Smear a little peanut butter and jelly on the outside of the coup glass.
4. Strain into a chilled coupe.
5. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

ChefSecret:  Here’s how you can make a Peanut Butter Cup Shot:  combine shot glasses full of equal parts peanut butter whiskey, chocolate liqueur or creme de cocoa, and your chosen dairy or dairy alternative. This tastes best when all three have been in the freezer.

Quip of the Day: “Did you hear about the peanut butter factory that exploded? Reese’s was in pieces.”
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