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With a smell somewhere between fresh-baked cookies and delicious cotton-candy, the Bacon Beans from Archie McPhee were a fascinating delight. The taste, always with trepidation followed by a little disgust, came out to something akin to a smoked-strawberry. It’s certainly not the booger or dirt flavor of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, but I suspect these will not be making a regular appearance in the candy dish at the Reagan Library.
I have a huge amount of bacon-related materials to share this week, and I hope I’ll get to share all of the best items before the week is out. That or we’ll have to make this an annual festival … But here’s one I’ve got to get out there … after hours. One that you might not want to check out at work if you work for someplace that keeps kosher or has some kind of flesh-detecting image blocker. Because there is a lot of flesh here. Original image (and a few others) is here.
So, first off … I’m impressed. It takes guts to put yourself out there like that, tight crop or not. But … why isn’t the bacon cooked? I mean, if it was crispy, it would both be more supportive, and actually tasty … I’m not turned on at all by raw bacon. It’s kinda grossing me out, to be honest.
This is primarily a beer blog, so it should come as no surprise that Bacon Week had to eventually turn back to the juice of the barley. In this case, it’s as close as the world has yet come to true bacon beer*: Rauchbier.
Rauchbier is a bottom-fermenting lager native to the Franconia area of Germany, specifically the town of Bamberg. From Michael Jackson’s New World Guide to Beer
This is the beer world’s answer to a single malt Scotch whiskey, especially of the Islay type. Scotch whiskey gains its smoky character from the kilning of barley malt over a fire of the local peat. Bamberger Rauchbier takes its smokiness from the kilning of the same material over beechwood logs.
The first time I ever had rauchbier, I recall it being unbelievably smoky in flavor, and I believe I called it “liquid bacon,” which is how we arrived at reviewing a beer during bacon week. I was able to procure two examples at Belmont Station yesterday.
Spezial Rauchbier (pictured at right) is a lightweight relative to most Portland beers, weighing in at just 4.6% abv, but what it lacks in punch it makes up for in flavor. Smoke is definitely there, but not in the overwhelming way I recall it my first time. It complements the grainy sweetness, but isn’t the first note I would pick up - that I’d say is the scent of brewing - it smells just like a brewery in the midst of a boil, which is a nice homey flavor. Add to that the smoke and even a bit of pine as a back note, and this is a nice beer for a cool fall evening, like being in front of the fireplace with your slippers on, which I happen to be.
The beer I must have been thinking of when I coined the term “liquid bacon” must have been Aecht Schenkerla Rauchbier (pictured at left). Much darker in color than the Spezial, this beer is also about five times more assertive in the smoke department, reminding me less of a comfy evening in front of the fireplace, and more a long day in front of the smoker working on an 18-hour beef brisket. The smoke flavor sticks to your mouth like a tarry coat, peaking in flavor almost a minute after you swallow. It’s not unpleasant, but this is no session beer - far from it. It’s more in the category of what I’d call a “teaching beer,” one that educates the drinker on the vast flavor profiles available in beer, but not one that many are likely to purchase again and again.
* That is, until Sam Calagione applies his magic and creates a true bacon beer … and on that day, we’ll be first in line.