alright, my sister informed me of the possibility of bacon flavored beer tonight. im in the food service industry. meat juice seems dangerous to be left at room temperature for fermentation. makes no sense to me that its ok. given that trichinosis and death arent a real concern, im in. knowledge please, im at a loss. thanks, Derek
I’m such a curmudgeon when it comes to this… just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. There’s so much wonderful beer in the world already, why does someone need to go and do all this?
In the interest of scientific curiosity, though, here are my initial thoughts. 1) “Bacon flavored” can be done without using bacon. Smoke and salt are pretty close. Hey, Bacon bits on your salad are usually soy. 2) There’s a place in town that does bacon cocktails by infusing liquor with bacon fat. The high alcohol content kills nasties. I’m sure if you do that, then add the liquor to a batch, you might get some bacon flavor. But really, why would you want to?
You have to cook the bacon then add it to the secondary. I saw it recently in a show called Rebel Eats on the Food Network. That’s the only reason I watched it to see how they got the bacon flavor in the beer. This is the brewery http://www.pisgahbrewing.com/beer/seasonal the beer is one of their seasonals and they smoked tick cuts of bacon and let it dry then added it to the secondary.
Still sounds weird even after watching them do it. Oh well, to each their own.
How about rauchbier? Has a kind of bacony taste, but involves no bacon.
I could see a Bacon Smoked Porter going over pretty well. I would agree that you’re not adding bacon to a fermenter at any point. Maybe make a bacon infusion with vodka and then add it in at a later point. I also wouldn’t want any bacon fat in my beer, it would just float around and look nasty not to mention screw with the head of the beer.
I’m not sure it is a good idea either but bacon does go with everything like beer does 
If I remember correctly the way to add real bacon flavor would be to make a tincture by soaking the bacon in alcohol then add it to the finished beer. This way you can add small amounts until reaching the desired taste.
If I was to attempt this in any form or fashion, I would probably make the bacon-flavored tinture. And I would allow whomever was brave enough to try it to add it to their own glass as a “bacon-shot” before pouring their individual pint. That way you can still have a batch of good beer on hand.
BTW I did this for a party where I made a wheat and had a cranberry shot that people could add if they wanted to. That way the fruit-heads were happy and the rest of us could just enoy a good wheat.
+1
Buy a rauchbeer or two, the smoke does make it reminiscent of bacon without adding anything greasy to your beer.
You could even try smoking your own malt if you’re so inclined to try and get the right flavor. I am guessing that might be more difficult than it sounds though.
I’ve made a bacon beer before. Cooked bacon infused in vodka. Vodka into beer. Tasted good.
A couple years ago, at a club meeting, a member pulled out a liter bottle into which he had shoved about a dozen strips of cooked bacon and then filled with a porter and let sit for a couple days. After a couple people tried it and discovered that the bacon character was just too overwhelming, they bought a pitcher of porter and added an oz or two of the “bacon concentrate” to each glass and declared it quite tasty. And some people really dug the little bacon crispies floating on top!
This pretty much sums up my thoughts about homebrewing, “because I can”.
Anyway, never made my own bacon beer but my fellow homebrewers tried it a couple times and I am all for the crazy, try anything once, because why not. Bacon beer isn’t bad but nothing I will call revolutionary. The mixture of beer and tasting the salt, smoke, and fat of the bacon was just not appealing after a sample. A few of the brewers got together and tried different variations of bacon and ratios of bacon to beer but nothing really seemed to blend well as in terms of desirability.
Do it because you can? Absolutely! Just don’t be disappointed when it doesn’t turn out like like you might expect it to turn out.
Rogue Brewery has a specialty Maple Bacon beer. It comes in 22oz pink bottles. Like…Pepto Bismal pink!
I tried it over the holidays this past year. It’s actually quite good! Definitive bacon flavor with a bit of maple on the finish. Nothing too overpowering.
It’s not something you’d drink a pint of. It’s good for a party where everyone pours a few ounces to sip on and talk about.
[quote=“stompwampa”]Rogue Brewery has a specialty Maple Bacon beer. It comes in 22oz pink bottles. Like…Pepto Bismal pink!
I tried it over the holidays this past year. It’s actually quite good! Definitive bacon flavor with a bit of maple on the finish. Nothing too overpowering.
It’s not something you’d drink a pint of. It’s good for a party where everyone pours a few ounces to sip on and talk about.[/quote]
YEEESSS! Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale. Amazing stuff, but I’ve found you either love it or hate it.
The North American Organic Brewfest in Portland later this month will have a bacon beer on tap; from Uncommon Brewing.
[quote=“CliffordBrewing”][quote=“stompwampa”]Rogue Brewery has a specialty Maple Bacon beer. It comes in 22oz pink bottles. Like…Pepto Bismal pink!
I tried it over the holidays this past year. It’s actually quite good! Definitive bacon flavor with a bit of maple on the finish. Nothing too overpowering.
It’s not something you’d drink a pint of. It’s good for a party where everyone pours a few ounces to sip on and talk about.[/quote]
YEEESSS! Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale. Amazing stuff, but I’ve found you either love it or hate it.[/quote]
As mentioned, Rogue’s is a homage to Voodoo Donuts’ maple bacon donut. I haven’t tried either, although I am not opposed, I entered a maple bacon bourbon baklava in a bacon-themed cooking contest once and took first place. Regarding the ale, to quote my friend who works there “it’s not for everyone.” It seems like there are always more tempting options when I am at Rogue. An email to Rogue may get you some info on how to infuse some bacon flavor to your beer.
IMHO Voodoo Donuts is overrated. It seems like it’s featured on every travel show or article on Portland so it’s very popular with visitors, but for me there are much better donuts in town. Coco Donuts makes the best I’ve ever had. The one thing I will say about them is that they do offer donuts you won’t find anywhere else so if novelty is your thing, it may be worth waiting in the ridiculously long line. Besides, I kind of feel about donuts that way I do about pizza and sex, even when it’s kinda bad, it’s still kinda good 
http://www.free90free.com/peshchat/view ... ilit=Bacon a brewer in our local group pulled if off. I thought it was tasty.
There is “artificial” flavoring for every taste out there. i suppose you could add some of this to your primary/secondary etc… I certainly wouldnt use meat to achieve flavoring. Artificial flavoring be must safer! Interesting though as I love bacon.
For the love of God why?? why?? Bacon is great, beer is great, leave them seperate dont get greedy…You are talking about 2 perfect things…dont mix them enjoy them as they are…its just like cannabis beer, they are better by themselves…one at a time…god bless you
New Glarus did a smoked porter a few years ago as part of their “thumbprint series”. They made a porter and then aged it with some charred apple wood (commonly used for smoking bacon) that they got from the smokehouse located next door to their old brewery location. Beer had a DEFINITE bacon flavor, which I can tell you was absolutely hideous.
But if you are serious about a bacon beer I’d suggest going this route. Don’t have to worry about a pork product or any kind of grease in your final product.
