Anyone for a meat-tini? The rise of spirits infused with beef, oysters and raw turkey

Telegraph

01-05-2025

In mid-March, Snowdonia Wagyu took a step beyond its usual briskets and burgers and launched a beef-infused rum. The following week, Hong Kong cocktail bar Tell Camellia went viral after posting an Instagram reel in which its bartender made an oyster gin. The secret? Blending the shellfish into a cream-coloured, gin-based paste before distillation. And then, on an April episode of popular food podcast Off Menu, Mexican-born, London-based chef Santiago Lastra ruffled feathers by championing 'mezcal de pechuga', an agave spirit distilled with raw turkey breast.
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Why the sudden uptick in spirits infused with poultry, game and seafood? While consommé-based cocktails (known as 'stocktails') have been around since the 1950s, and 'fat-washing' became popular among bartenders in the noughties, we're increasingly seeing the spirits themselves get the meat and mollusc treatment. I've come to the Mezcaleria in the basement of Lastra's Michelin-starred Kol in Marylebone to sample a selection with bartender Liam Cullen.
Fowl play
'Pechuga, particularly, can be difficult to get your head around,' admits Cullen. 'People's first question tends to be: is the turkey cooked? It's not.' And, although the heat and alcohol levels in the stills kill any harmful bacteria, Cullen concedes that pechuga might struggle to attract a following if it was invented today. 'Thankfully, it's a tradition – it has a track record.'
Tradition, however, hasn't stopped distillers experimenting. Cullen has an Australian bottle of kangaroo pechuga behind the bar, and a Mexican crocodile pechuga on the menu. 'We like to say that most pechugas are similar in texture to a buttery Chardonnay,' he says of the creamy style, which is achieved when oils from the raw meat mingle with alcohol vapours. The meatiest mezcal on offer at Kol is 'pechuga de venado', distilled using cuts of white-tailed deer. It's got a gamey flavour, slightly fruity and is the most pleasant of the pechugas I have tried.
Meanwhile Stateside, New Hampshire's Tamworth Distilling is also utilising venison in the production of a whiskey named Deerslayer. Since starting up five years ago, the small-batch distillery has been experimenting using a rotary evaporator (a piece of equipment commonly found in pharmaceutical laboratories) to create bourbons flavoured with deer, as well as crab or goose.
Where's the beef?
In Britain, Snowdonia Wagyu's rum has a similar richness to that of venison-infused spirits. It's unctuous and more savoury than you'd expect from a sugar-derived spirit, but not obviously beef-based. 'With rigorous food safety oversight, we distil the fat, offcuts and bones,' explains Sioned Pritchard, co-founder of the Caernarfon-based brand. 'These are elements rich in flavour, but often underused. This way, the rum aligns with our ongoing commitment to sustainable farming and whole-animal usage.'
The limited-run rum, which Pritchard describes as 'buttery, nuanced and layered', began as a joke, 'one that quickly turned into a compelling challenge'. Yet the Welsh appear adept at such alchemy. In 2013, Conwy Brewery used roast lamb juices to whip up a porter called 'Sunday Toast', and Llanfairpwll Distillery hand-harvests local shellfish for its Menai Oyster Gin.
Conceived during the 2020 lockdowns, theirs is one of the few 'oyster gins' to use oyster flesh (other examples, such as that from Scotland's Isle of Bute Distillery, use only the shells). 'It gives the gin a rockpool salinity,' explains head distiller Rob Laming, who points out that Llanfairpwll uses only deformed or 'ugly' oysters that would otherwise be discarded in line with the company's no-waste ethos. 'We were happy to try something new and use the flesh,' he explains. 'The response it most often gets is disgust. Until they try it'.
Shell shock
The seafood-infused spirits perhaps seem less of a stretch. After all, caviar and vodka have long been close bedfellows (in 2019, Pernod Ricard even launched L'Orbe, a bottle of vodka with a caviar-filled tube at its centre). In Hong Kong, Tell Camellia's viral oyster gin was the result of owner Gagan Gurung's desire to bring 'a clean, briny essence' to his cocktails. 'Our goal was to concentrate as much flavour as possible,' Gurung explains, 'which required blending to break down the oyster meat thoroughly. We then slow-cooked the mixture to gently extract all the aromatic compounds, resulting in umami and rich oceanic flavours.'
In the Netherlands, Oyester blitzes full oysters to create its Oyester 44 Maritime Vodka with similarly saline results. Distilled by drinks innovator Chris Liebau, he intends the spirit to be enjoyed alongside a plate of freshly shucked shellfish, and says oyster flesh was used as 'it adds a richness and creaminess that the shells alone couldn't'.
Of the seafood-infused spirits I've tried, this is the best. I may not be sipping it from an oyster shell (as Liebau suggests), but it manages to brilliantly balance a briny character with sharp citrus notes. The Dutchman promises future seafood spirits, 'for now, though, I'm keeping my shucking knife close to my chest'. This initial offering is a smooth treat; it may be a 'meaty' spirit, but it doesn't feel gimmicky.
Back at the Mezcaleria, this is what concerns Cullen. 'Interest is growing,' he says in pechuga and other meat-based spirits, 'but some London bars are now saying they make their own pechuga which is stretching the term. They may be putting meat in their mezcal and infusing it, but do they have a still? I just hope people don't start doing it for shock value.'
Because, while bottles bearing 'contains mollusc' or 'contains raw meat product' warnings may seem sensationalist, most of these spirits – whether infused with uncooked poultry or high-grade beef – turn to meat and natural fats in pursuit of a creamier, more buttery texture than can be achieved using conventional ingredients or methods. Most succeed. So, if you can get over their provenance, only one question remains: will your future cocktail order be shaken, stirred or medium-rare?