The Bacon and Beer Classic: it’s one day of pork pulchritude at baseball stadiums across the nation, with local breweries and restaurants serving straight-up paradise—often on a stick. I could probably do a mic drop here, and you’d be sold, right?
The author hard at work.
For the second year in a row, the Classic hit a home run at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. VIP tickets got you entry an hour early and access to the dugouts, the entire edge of the field, and the warning track. Let me urge you to take advantage of that should you attend in the future—not only can you catch pretend fly balls in the outfield, but the lines for food and drink are no big deal.
Breweries from NYC locals Third Rail and Sixpoint to crowd faves Stone and Southern Tier repped hard—and I sampled Every. Single. One. As a sucker for anything barrel-aged (I actually own whiskey-barrel-aged bitters—for why, I don’t know), I sucked down several glasses of Abita’s limited-edition Bourbon Street Stout. Third Rail’s Field 2 Farmhouse ale rocked me, as did Finch’s and the can art for their Threadless IPA collab and their Hardcore Chimera Imperial IPA.
What, you like cider? They got cider! As a matter of fact, Original Sin Apricot Cider won the Best Cider award at Saturday’s event, along with Southern Tier for Best IPA and Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager for Best Summery Sud.
Because of course there were more awards, the food was judged by a panel that included Big Brother alum Adam Poch, who lucked his way into the title of Bacon Minister. (Can I be Assistant Bacon Minister next year, please?) Restaurants were up for Best Sweet Bacon, Best Savory Bacon, Best Overall, and Best Use of Bacon (although I always thought that any use of bacon was the best. I’d be a lousy judge, but a very good Assistant Bacon Minister).
photo by Rebecca Fondren
I went for the incredibly simple tacos from Tres Carnes (winner of my totally made-up Best Tex-Mex Award), with house-cured smoked pork belly instead of shredded pork. Blind Tiger, better known for its tap list, dished out bacon-cauliflower chowder (winner of the Best and Only Chowder At a Spring Event—another award I completely made up), and I vow to attempt a remake of Black Tree’s sweet ‘n’ salty candied maple bacon blondie. But the real winner of a real award that day (for Best Sweet Bacon) was Pig Guy NYC’s s’more bacon on a stick. Gah, I can’t even.
Your all-inclusive ticket is, er, all-inclusive, and restaurants and breweries vary by location. So eat and drink until you come home and pass out at three in the afternoon, just like I did. FL
The Bacon and Beer Classic will be making stops in Seattle at Safeco Field May 2 and in Indianapolis at Victory Field July 11.
More info and tickets at www.baconandbeerclassic.com
