Bacon + Beer at 918 F St.

Whole Lotta Bacon..

I really enjoyed myself Monday night at 918 F St (Living Social) for a tasty pairing of two of my favorites: bacon and beer! 918 F Street in Washington, D.C. is quite a facility – 5 floors each with one or two rooms for cooking, mixing drinks or other events – it’s a pretty happening event space with literally thousands of people going through every month (maybe every week!). The speaker for this event – Bacon + Beer – really knew his stuff – Jesse Raines, Beverage Director at VSLS, Living Social (but his card lists him also as “Speakeasy Manager”). Very simple setup: we sat at white table-clothed tables and were given a very explanatory tasting sheet with 4 beers and a selection of 3 bacons (two slices of each – way more than needed!) and finally at the end the chocolate covered bacon was put out separately (I assume to keep the chocolate from melting – it was served slightly chilled).

Four Bacon Tastings with matching beers (and my comments):

• Honey Chipotle-Glazed Bacon with Abita Amber Lager
This was a very good pairing – The Abita Amber Lager is a Session beer with relatively low alcohol and has just a hint of honey which helped it go with the sweetness of the bacon’s glaze. Actually, the Abita pretty much went with every bacon – except for the chocolate covered..

• Espresso-Glazed Bacon with Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
Delicious Beer (10% ABV!), great bacon with big coffee/hickory flavors, but the pairing didn’t work – simple reason: the Stout is a Big Beer with loads of alcohol and chocolate/coffee intense flavor (actually has no chocolate in it!) and there just wasn’t any synergy. I would have paired the Stout with something chocolate like cake and maybe even a scoop of vanilla ice cream which would cool down the heat of this beer..Some beers were meant to be drunk alone though!

• Sriracha-Glazed Bacon with Firestone Walker Wookey Jack Black Ale
I hate to overuse the word “awesome” but this bacon was AWESOME!! The prior two bacons were hickory-smoked, while this one was apple-smoked and the bacon was more juicy/fatty/srirachi! Yum and yum, this bacon rocked! The big difference in this beer is noticeable hops and a slight rye whiskey flavor (so a spicy/smokyness..) which came from aging in rye barrels. This was a very good pairing with alot of complexity from smoke to hot Sriracha, from hops to saltiness..alot going on which is fun in your mouth!

• Chocolate and Sea Salt-Dipped Bacon with Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter
This was some rich dark bittersweet chocolate – I mean I actually tasted more of the chocolate than the bacon! Nice pairing – it was on the rich side with chocolate, bacon and “Imperial” Porter (BTW – Jesse mentioned that “Imperial” added to a craft beer title pretty much just means high in alcohol!) and of course my palate was coated with a nice bacon fat/hops/maltiness, so it takes some strong flavors to come through.

We ended the evening with a fifth tasting in the Speakeasy (my Bad – I forget the name of the beer!) and I had a couple of Whistlepig Whiskeys to clear my head, and all was good in the world – Cheers!

Charlie “I Drink on the Job” Adler

Upcoming Beer Events on TasteDC:

–Belgian Restaurant Week’s Mussel Throw Down and Blind-folded Beer Tasting at Eastern Market (Saturday, July 20th, 2013)

–Artists & Artisans Summer Celebration at 3 Stars Brewery, Washington, D.C. (Sunday, July 28th, 2013)

–Drink the District: Beer Edition (Saturday and Sunday, July 27th and 28th)