Ham on Rye

Iowa Farmer Tries to Raise Pigs That Taste Like Whiskey

Didn't get to vote on it.
Didn’t get to vote on it. Photo: ShutterStock

Dried grains left over from the operations at Templeton Rye Distillery are being used to feed the five-month-old pigs at a nearby farm in Iowa, and Nick Berry, who essentially has a P.h.D. in meat, says that he hopes his test-pilot program of 25 Durocs will yield several hundred pounds of whiskey-flavored bacon. As far as grandiose experiments in mixing spirits and lard go, this one’s definitely preferable to anyone attempting to make a bacon-flavored rye, but hopefully no one’s going to start suggesting Berry pair his whiskey cutlets with Seattle butcher William von Schneidau’s weed prosciutto, which is made from pigs that subsist on a diet of oversize marijuana leaves sourced from the local dispensary. That would clearly be taking things too far. [WQAD, Related]

Iowa Farmer Tries to Raise Pigs That Taste Like Whiskey