If you are ready to welcome the winter with some smoke and tantalizing aroma, here is something that will interest you. Smoky cocktails make the best drinks for chilly evenings. Especially if you don’t always have to visit a posh bar and shell out a fortune. You can make your own smoked cocktail at the comfort of your home with your food smoker. All you need is the ingredients, a quality food smoker, and a cold smoke adapter.
How to use a food smoker to prepare smoky cocktails
You can turn your food smoker into a cocktail smoker in minutes. For this, you need to follow a kind of double boiler technique. This is done to prevent the cocktail from heating up during smoking because we all love it chilled. To start with, take a large heat-proof container or microwave bowl, preferably shallow to let the smoke enter it from all sides. Now take another heat-proof bowl, a little smaller in size than the previous one. Put some ice in the first bowl or the larger bowl. Now pour the cocktail mix inside the small bowl and set it inside the large bowl. Your cocktail is ready to be smoked.
Use cold smoke for cocktails. Turn your hot smoker into a cold smoker with a cold smoke adapter. This advanced feature is available in quality food smokers like Bradley smokers. These food smokers come with dual heat elements that can perform both hot and cold food smoking. Bradley has introduced a cold smoke adapter kit that can be easily installed for recipes that require cold smoking like cocktail smoking.
Now fire up the food smoker and keep the already prepped bowl inside it. Let the cocktail absorb the smoky flavor for a while, preferably for 30 seconds to a minute. Take it out and set it aside for another couple of minutes before serving.
3 ways to add smoky flavor to your cocktail
You must be excited to try this trick with your food smoker to raise the flavor bar of your drink. Here are a few ways to add a little more depth to the smoky flavor of your cocktail.
#1. Smoke rinse the glass
This is the first step to prepare a smoky cocktail with an intense smoky note. Before you put the cocktail inside the food smoker. use the same double bowl method to smoke the serving glass. The duration here should be preferably 30 seconds. Take the glass out of the smoker and let it sit until the cocktail is smoked. The ice-filled bowl will ensure that the glass doesn’t get heated up while absorbing the smoky flavor.
#2. Smoke the Garnish
Most of us prefer our cocktails garnished with little something like prawns, bacon, cherries, etc. You can smoke these garnishes inside the food smoker in the double bowl method. This will complement the smoky flavor of the cocktail.
#3. Smoke the ice
As weird as it may sound, ice can be smoked too to get the intense smoky flavor. Don’t be afraid of melting it because once it absorbs the flavor, it will stay even after it is refrozen. This is a trick used by popular bars that they will never disclose to their customers.
Bonus tip: Use flavored Smoke
If you want to impress your guests with a flavored cocktail, this tip is a must-try. Create fruity smoke with wood chips that will balance the natural flavors of the smoky cocktail, taking it higher by many levels. Bradley Bisquettes are the safest way to produce smoke for any type of food smoking. These compressed wood sawdust chips are available in a range of flavors like Hickory, Apple, Alder, Oak, Pecan, Cherry, Maple, etc.
5 Super-easy Smoked Cocktails
This article wouldn’t be complete without some tantalizing smoky cocktail recipes. These recipes can be prepared in your food smoker in minutes and don’t require too much preparation. Check out your go-to smoked cocktails below.
#1. Smoked Bloody Mary
This hot-favorite red cocktail can be smoked in a food smoker. Add 3 parts of Vodka with 1 part of lemon juice, 6 parts of tomato juice, and a little Tabasco. Don’t forget the Worcestershire sauce and some salt and pepper to create the zing.
Method: Smoke rinse a glass. In another glass add all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Smoke it in the double bowl method and pour the mix into the smoke rinsed glass to serve.
#2. Smoked Dragon’s Breath
We simply could not miss out on this one. Take 1 teaspoon of St. Germain, 2 ounces of bourbon, simple syrup, and Cointreau.
Method: Smoke rinse the glass using the food smoker. Now take it out and cover the mouth of the glass with a coaster to trap the smoke inside. Mix all the ingredients for at least 20 seconds. Remove the coaster, pour the cocktail and enjoy.
#3. Smoked Martini
The smoky martini is perhaps the best martini version you will have. Take 1 ounce of dry white vermouth, 2 ounces of gin, a strip of lemon zest, and ice cubes.
Method: Smoke rinse the glass but make sure it is chilled. Combine all the ingredients in a shaker, strain it, and pour in the glass. Extract the oil from lemon zest into the drink and enjoy.
#4. Smoked Manhattan
This timeless cocktail when smoked becomes a classic. You will need 1 part of sweet vermouth, two parts rye, and a few dashes of cocktail bitters.
Method: Take all the ingredients in a shaker with ice and mix well. Now pour the mix in a smoke rinsed jar and stir for a minute. Let it rest for a while and serve garnished with smoked cherries.
#5. Smoked Old Fashioned
This smoke-infused classy cocktail can be the star of any party. You will need cocktail cherry, sugar, and some ice.
Method: Cold Smoke sugar, cocktail, cherry, and orange peel inside the food smoker for 2 minutes. Give a second booster of smoking for another 2 minutes to infuse the rich smoky flavor into these garnishes. Now muddle the smoked sugar with water. Add the garnishes with the ice. Smoke the mix for a third time using the double bowl technique. Pour in a glass and serve.
That’s all for this guide on smoked cocktails. Hope these Bradley tips & tricks will help you explore your food smoker in multiple ways.
For more great ideas on how to get the most of your Bradley Smoker, check out the awesome articles on our Bradley Smoker Food Smoking Blog for more tips & tricks.
