Infuse It or Refuse It – The Mission. By Chuck Walker

I would like to start this series with the disclaimer that I am a long-time bourbon purist. Now to be fair, I am not entirely sure what that means, but saying it does help me feel self-righteously superior every time I see someone order a shot of Fireball. Suffice to say, I generally like bourbon for what it is. I have always trusted our nation’s master distillers to create whiskies with the depth and character necessary to stand on their own. As far as I am concerned, taking a quality American whiskey and polluting it with spices and fruit extracts is the equivalent of ordering a prime fillet and then dousing it with ketchup. You could do it, but why would you? (NOTE: For all the Vegans out there on whom that analogy was completely lost, it would be like taking a quality fair-trade chia flax blend and mixing it with Cocoa Puffs.)

To understand my perspective, you must first accept the premise that bourbon is clearly America’s single greatest contribution to humanity. Well okay…there was the Bill of Rights, the telegraph, the polio vaccine, modern aviation, manned space flight, the Internet, and those little fish-shaped cheddar cheese flavored crackers…but bourbon is pretty darn tasty and deserves its place on the list as well. Regardless of its rank, why anyone would want to turn this national treasure into suntan lotion prior to drinking it has always been a mystery to me. So as you would suspect, I prefer my bourbon either straight out of the bottle or in a well-conceived and crafted cocktail. After all, dousing your bourbon with bitters, fruit, and syrup is completely different than drinking flavored whiskey…right?

For years, I was content practicing my self-defined bourbon orthodoxy, while looking down my Glencarin glass at all the flavored whiskey drinkers. My safe little world was shattered earlier this year however, when I had the good fortune to taste a coffee-infused bourbon old fashioned at a local watering hole. I fully expected to have to hold back my gag reflex to get it down, but was surprised (and somewhat ashamed) to find it absolutely delicious.   Almost instantly, the walls I had built around my puritanical belief system crumbled into a glass of peach whiskey. Perhaps infusions, when properly executed, could take a good whiskey to a whole new level, and maybe…just maybe…I had been a bit closeminded on the subject. Is it possible I had actually been missing something wonderful all these years? The very thought sent a thrill up my leg that would have made Chris Matthews jealous.

It was then that I resolved to begin a journey into the world of infused bourbon and decide for myself if it stood up to the hype. Though this would be a challenge in-and-of itself, I could not help but feel as if there was an even greater mission at hand. Perhaps my quest could help other bourbon purists confront their own presuppositions on the matter! Yes…there was a greater good I had been called to achieve. Perhaps, in some small way, I could help others decide whether they should Infuse It or Refuse It.

In this series, I will take popular infusion recipes from the web and other sources, make them myself, taste them, and tell you whether you should infuse it or refuse it. I will rate each infusion on how it stands on its own (as bourbons should be rated), how it stands up in a cocktail, and how versatile it is overall.   I will give each infusion a rating of 1 to 10 in each of these categories, with 1 being the weakest and 10 being the strongest. For example, when summed up a fantastic infusion recipe could score a perfect 30, while toxic waste would likely get a 0. My final recommendation will be based on this score.

Now this may sound objective and well thought out, but trust me…it’s not. I fully expect my process to produce results that are completely biased, self-affirming, and embarrassingly misguided. But hey…it has worked in politics for centuries so why not try it here? At the very least, it will be a fun way for me to get rid of all the mason jars in my garage. Please check back for the first Infuse It or Refuse It installment next week when I review my attempt at creating Bourbon Coffee Liqueur. It should be interesting…