In Nashville, where mixology bars are abundant, Belle Meade Country Club’s flavor-infused vodkas and bourbons have added more cachet and character to its cocktail menu than any of its competitors’ concoctions.
Served primarily in the club’s Grill Bar, Belle Meade has earned a reputation for imaginatively created libations. Looking to up the ante and offer members the same fresh flavors they’d find on the a la carte menu, the club’s sous chef and head bartender began to experiment with flavor-infused vodkas.
“They wanted to create a vodka that really had a fresh flavor,” says Darwin Guenther, Assistant Manager. “They thought sous-vide might be the best way to do that.”
Typically, the sous-vide process is used to cook a liquid into a solid. But Belle Meade’s innovators reversed that philosophy, to infuse solid into liquid.
For the cucumber vodka used in the Cucumber Cooler, fresh ingredients are vacuum-sealed into a bag of Tito’s Handmade Vodka and cooked in a temperature-controlled water bath for three hours. The plastic bag keeps the alcohol in the vodka, and the vacuum pressure draws tremendous flavor into the spirit.
C&RB CLUB RECIPE Amt Ingredient Procedure:
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The result is a high-quality, housemade, flavor-infused liquor. “The taste is out of this world,” says Guenther.
Other popular infused-spirit concoctions at Belle Meade now include vanilla vodka, lemon-mint vodka and even Parmesan vodka—though the bartenders are still struggling with how best to mix and serve the latter.
The club has also infused bourbon with bacon, serving it over a perfectly clear ice cube.
“Our members can go anywhere for a cocktail,” says Guenther. “But they consistently tell us that the drinks at the club are better. The goal wasn’t necessarily to come up with new and inventive liquor as much as it was to offer our members the best possible quality we could provide. Part of the reason our cocktail menu is so successful is because of the fresh flavors and our attention to detail.”
The flavor-infused spirits don’t end with the bar menu, either. Belle Meade now offers signature spirits for weddings and events, too. “For a golf outing last year, as a riff on an Arnold Palmer, we infused vodka with tea, serving it with lemonade,” says Guenther. “And brides always love the idea of a signature spirit made just for their special day.”
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