Everybody Loves Bacon
Some things were meant to be: peanut butter and jelly, french fries and ketchup, and now, bacon and beer.
Bacon and beer have been companions for many years. The journey started as any food and beer friendship would, side by side. Soon it was discovered that similar flavors to bacon could be found in beer and the race was on.
Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewing has claimed to have brewed the first bacon beer. Actually a rauchbier, Brooklyn’s bacon beer was only available at a ultra-limited Per Se dinner back in September. The beer was brewer with malt smoked in the same room as bacon and took on an incredible amount of flavor from it’s roommate. Oddly, there has yet to be a RateBeer review of the beer, so I couldn’t tell you what the response to this beer was as even google doesn’t seem to have an answer.
All of this is just a warm up for the real show stopper, an honest bacon beer. Uncommon Brewers of Santa Cruz has been using interesting ingredients in their beers since they opened their doors, but the use of actual cured pork belly is a first.
The method used to mix beer and bacon has yet to be shared with the public. “The exact method on that will have to remain a trade secret for a little while,” says headbrewer Alec Stefansky. What we do know is that the base beer will be a brown ale and a release date has been announced.
Saturday, January 30th, The Brewing Network will be hosting their Winter Brews Festival at Linden Street Brewery in Oakland. In addition to the release of the bacon beer, there will be food from The Homebrew Chef as well as beer from more than 30 other breweries.
Are you excited for a bacon beer? Have you experimented with the style as a homebrewer? Have we gone too far? Please, share your thoughts on this. Personally, I’ve been waiting months for this beer and can’t wait to try it.
3 Comments to “Everybody Loves Bacon”
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I am a bacon-o-phile, and cannot wait to actually try one of these bacon beers that are starting to appear. I’ve traded for Uncommon Brewers beer before, and the new offering probably means I’ll be doing some illicit shipping again.
My first experiment with the style is going into the carboy soon. I haven’t figured out a for-sure way to get bacon into my beer at home yet, so I’ll be doing a strong brown with bacon-infused bourbon.
I’m a vegetarian beer lover who’s a little wary of this new fad. I hope they don’t sneaking meat products into more beers!
In New Zealand, Invercargill Smokin’ Bishop is our ‘Bacon Beer’. Like Brooklyn Brewings’, it’s a Rauchbier.