Well, how did I miss this question??
I make about a gallon of bacon infused bourbon each week for my bar here in Brooklyn.
The process is called fat washing and it’s based on the principal that alcohol takes on the flavour of fat. You’ve got the process mostly right. You render bacon for it’s fat (grease) and mix it with the bourbon. It doesn’t need to infuse for long. Eight hours or so will do. Then let the fat rise to the top and chill it down (freezer) so the fat cap becomes solid. Then just scrape off the fat and, while it’s cold strain it through a coffee filter. Et Voila! Bacon Bourbon!
The thing is… you need really good bacon. I’m lucky; We cure and smoke about two pork bellies a week for our menu, so I’m left with some really good Berkshire pork bacon fat. Do you have a Whole Foods near you? They have a double smoked bacon at their meat counter that will work great. Products like Oscar Meyer shouldn’t be used. No flavour really…
Lately I’ve been adding some smoked pork skin (from the bellies) to the infusion. This last batch was superb!! Salty, smoky, bourbon-y. I mix it with local, organic maple syrup and rim the glass with some pork “cracklin’” dust (think margarita salt) and we call it the Glazed Ham.
Oh yeah, I use Jim Beam as my base Bourbon. Pretty neutal flavors, but still good quality.
Good luck in your mixology. or you could always just come to my bar in bklyn to see how it’s done properly