This past Saturday Emily and I, along with our boyfriends Peter and Price, went to the first annual Boston Bacon and Beer Festival hosted by eatBoston. The idea was genius. I admit to being more attracted to the idea of the bacon based things more than the beer. I just don’t really like beer. I know, I know, you have to try it until you find something you like. Sure but when I am at a bar up here I am not about to plunk down $5-8 on a beer I might not like so I stick with the few I know I do like or just get water. Well I figured that going to this would give me the chance to try a few beers. If I did not like I could always pass it on to Price or just toss it out.
Besides the event being cool for being about bacon and beer it was held in this really cool open air building. The vacant building was built in 1891 as the Central Power Station for the West End Street Railway Company, the precursor to the MBTA. It was the world’s largest electrical power station at the time. Later on the building became a trolley barn. Now it is used by SOWA’s residents business owners for events, such as antique shows. The building is a mixture of The Romanesque and Gothic Revival styles.
So back to the food and drink…. There were 25 restaurants and 16 breweries. So there was a great selection of beer and bacon samples to try. I tried a few breweries and the one that I liked the best was a beer called Brown Angel from Clown Shoes Brewing. I thought it was a nice rich dark color (so pretty!) and really refreshing. It was a beer that I could get to relax in the backyard or just drink any time. I stuck with wondering around and trying the bacon things. There were bacon caramel sauces that were served with vanilla ice cream, savory cheesecakes with bacon, beer and bacon cupcakes, and so many things that we did not even get to try. One of the most unusual was the bacon and chocolate shakes served by b.good. hands down favorite was the salad and portobello mushroom served with a bacon based dressing. This was from Henrietta’s Table, which is my favorite place in Cambridge, so I was really excited to try what they had to offer and not surprised that I loved it. There were crazy lines since the event was popular but mainly because it was not laid out well, hoping they fix that for next year.
Lastly, I got 3 things while there. 1) The bacon hot sauce we saw. That was kinda obvious since it’s a great combination of bacon and hot sauce!! The bacon flavor added a slight smokiness to the hot sauce. 2) I got a necklace from Black Sheep Designs. It was a pretty cool necklace since it had an old T token. I miss the T tokens and I know this will be a great thing to have around after we move. 3) Whenever I go out I’m on the look out for cute rabbit themed things. Well Price spotted this hilarious letterpress card from Ferdinand’s booth. He got it for us so I just need to get it framed now. Love it.
