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Posts Tagged ‘bacon’

Bacon Festivals Are Back and TasteUSA Got ’em!

May 17th, 2015 • No Comments

America Loves Bacon..and So Does Washington, D.C.!

albhotdogsIt’s Bacon Festival Season again, and Washington, D.C. seems to be the Extreme Bacon Capitol! Coming up are 2 Bacon Festivals the same weekend in DC – First the amazing and popular Capitol Bacon Fest brought to you by America Loves Bacon. Believe it or not, TasteUSA now Feature more Bacon Festivals than any other website!

Capitol Bacon Festival, May 30, 2015, The Fairgrounds, Washington, D.C. (near the Yards Park)- 2nd Time in Washington, D.C. – Last year’s Bacon Eating Championship was a Feast for the Senses (not bad on the eyes either) and will again pit some of DC’s Best Bacon Eaters in a competitive format. I really enjoyed this event last year – Charm City Caterers, Food Trucks and some local food purveyors made the event a Smorgasbord of Bacon Goodness!

Jalapeno Bacon!

Jalapeno Bacon!

 

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918 F Streets Bacon Tasting – Alas, LivingSocial Closed this Facility!

I attended last year’s DC Bacon and Beer Festival in DC and it’s Back this year on Sunday, May 31st, 2015 – the day after Capitol Bacon Festival!! This was held at Penn Social and was quite good – there were quite a few chefs/restaurants and it Sold Out in literally a matter of minutes.

Beer, Bourbon & BBQ is June 19 and 20th, 2015 – We promote so many of these Festivals that we almost forget – this event includes a Huge Bacon Tasting! There are over 10+ Bacon tasting stations and of course this event comes with a great selection of Bourbons and Beers. The Trigger people produce this event all over the U.S. so they have special relationships with Pork Vendors – it’s Porky and Foodie!

Beer & Bacon Festival comes to Woodbridge, VA for the 2nd year on Saturday, August 29, 2015 and is presented by Trigger Agency again. There’s a Special Price for VIP Tickets on our site – and you get VIP Beer and Bacon Admission will host over 10 restaurant tasting stations featuring the BEST restaurants in the DC Metro area. They will be on-hand vying for the $500 Best Bacon Dish Prize. (VIP Beer & Bacon Session food tastings included, regular beer tasting session food is ala carte.)
• 2 tons of gourmet bacons will be griddled on-site (until 3pm). Save a Few Dollars on Beer & Bacon Festival Here

 

BAconey Deviled Eggs!

BAconey Deviled Eggs!
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Past: I attended Beer, Bacon & Music at the Frederick Fairgrounds on Saturday, May 16th, 2015 – this was my first time visiting this event and location – the 2 Tons of Bacon made it really fun (you could literally eat your hearts content of bacon – the Jalapeno was awesome!!) and beers were a penny once you paid the very reasonable cover charge. I was impressed as much with the quality of the craft breweries represented as I was with the Bacon choices. I met a farm/brewery owner – Henry Ruhlman of Ruhlman Brewery  in Hempstead, Maryland who told me the story of how he began growing Maryland Hops and went through all the regulatory hurdles to produce Farmhouse beers. Today, opening a brewery on a farm is much less of a struggle, but he said he would do it again!

Bacon + Beer at 918 F St.

July 10th, 2013 • No Comments

Whole Lotta Bacon..

2013-07-08 20.41.12I 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!).2013-07-08 20.29.01 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).
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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!firestonewalkerwookyjackblackryeale

• 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.2013-07-08 21.06.55

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)