Let's Make a Cocktail Smoker

I recently received a gift magazine that focuses on the different types of people in your life and how to gift them accordingly. For the "bartender in your life" section there was a fancy slab of wood, a cloche, and a smoking apparatus geared for adding smokiness to your cocktails (pic 4). The price tag was a little restricting, in my opinion, so I took a mental note to try to make one of these myself.

I already had a walnut "cookie" slice from a local wood monger that they sold me for $5 and found a large "cloche" (aka vase) at the thrift store for $2. A Prime Day deal got me a cheap but effective smoking apparatus for about $50. Now that I had the basic materials, I was on my way to making this thing myself!

Wood slab

Cloche, or large glass vase

Smoking apparatus

Wood chips

Lighter, or matches

Something to smoke like a cocktail but it could also be cheese, hummus, whatever you want

router & bits (flush trim)

Hot glue gun

A round pattern to route against, I used a scrap piece of ply

Drill & bits

Stuff to sand and finish the wood base

Check out the start to finish on this video.

I had a walnut slice that was approximately 8-inches in diameter and an inch thick.

I found a large cylindrical glass vase that was 5-inches in diameter and 8-inches tall.

I figured if I cut a circle "guide" on my bandsaw and routed out a channel on the walnut base, then the "cloche" could recess on it. Afterwards, all I had to do was drill a hole in the base at an angle to slide the smoking tube through and voila!

So that is what I did but being a novice with the router proved difficult (as I am sure you will see later). The concept stills works though.

I secured the circle guide on my walnut using some hot glue in the approximate location I wanted. I had to leave some room for the smoking tube to collect on the inside of the cloche, otherwise this would be useless or at the very least, excessively leaky.

Next, I ran my router with a 1/2-inch flush trim bit along my guide. Unless you have experience and a Very steady hand, I would recommend building an outer circle to stabilize the router on. Or perform this operation on a router table. Often I tilted the router causing the channel to drift inside. This still functions as intended but if you are a perfectionist, you are probably cringing...sorry. Learn from my mistake if you are a trying this for the first time, too. I also don't like that the 1/2-inch bit makes the channel super huge and the cloche can wiggle around. If I were to do this again I would get the smallest bit that would still allow the glass to sit inside the recess.

Once that was done, I removed the glued on circle and cleaned up any stuck on glue.

I took my walnut cookie to the drill press to drill the top hole. I set the press at an appropriate angle (~10-degrees) for the smoke to flow up and into the glass topper. You could also drill a shallow hole with a hand drill if you have a method to clamp the cookie.

I stepped my way up to a 1/2-inch drill bit and only drilled ~3/8-inch deep. You'll notice from pic 3 that the hole rides the inner part of the circle I just routed.

I took the cookie off and drilled the side of the cookie to meet the top hole I just drilled. Stepping up from 1/8-inch to a 1/2-inch bit, I eventually got a good clean hole to insert my smoking tube without any resistance.

I gave the wood base a sanding starting at 80 grit and only going to 220. After cleaning it up, I "finished" it with olive oil so that it was "food grade."

After soaking up that oil all day, I think it was time for a break. I was ready for a nice refreshing, slightly smoky cocktail.

(And hey, if smoking liquor isn't your thing, you can use this to smoke food, like tiny meats / cheeses!)

I have a couple of thoughts about this part but isn't backed by science or anything, just experience:

1) I wanted the vase / cloche to be wide enough to allow the hole for the smoking tube and the cocktail glass (or a big piece of cheese).

2) I wanted the vase / cloche to be tall enough to give a larger head space. My thinking is that if there is a lot of smoke in a concentrated (aka small) space, the subject will be overly smoked and potentially acrid. I don't want to taste a campfire.

3) Smoke a cold, built cocktail. I feel if you smoke a component (say the bourbon for a boulevardier) as opposed to the whole thing, you may lose the smoke flavor. Also, being cold helps the smoke absorb into the drink. I figured if smoking cold meat helps BBQ why not a cocktail?!

4) Allow the smoke to incorporate into your cocktail for a minute or so. If you let it go 10, 20 minutes you risk the flavor going acrid (at least for my taste).

But this is just my take on the situation. Experiment yourself and let me know in the comments if I am completely wrong. I am no bartender but I love me some cocktails! This is basically thought of as a "garnish," in my opinion, anyways.

I hope you like this idea and try it or a similar concept for yourself. See you on the next one!