Bacon & Beer at LivingSocial

Two Fridays ago, I went a Bacon & Beer event at Living Social’s headquarters here in DC.* Although you might beg to differ based on the photo above, I’m really not much of a beer drinker (see girly cocktails in the background, and no, they were not both for me!). I just couldn’t turn down the prospect of a $19 four-item bacon tasting from the chef of Founding Farmers, a local DC restaurant with another location in Park Potomac, Maryland. Founding Farmers focuses on dishes that feature both organic and local (when possible) ingredients, something that I attempt to include in my own cooking as much as possible. There’s nothing better than eating a meal knowing exactly where each item on your plate came from. As a disclaimer, these are all photos from my iPhone and were taken under some seriously harsh lighting!

For all of you looking for some beer-related wisdom, I can only provide one small tidbit. The four beers we tasted were brewed by Flying Dog, and they were very warm. I probably would have enjoyed them significantly more had they been cold, but apparently the reason this wasn’t the case because you can better taste and analyze the flavor profile of a warm beer. According to the speaker/beer tasting connoisseur, an ice cold beer numbs your taste buds to the flavor. Beer wisdom imparted. Now, on to the bacon. Our first course consisted of a local turkey bacon on a skewer with a four-year Vermont cheddar, and an apple-onion confit on the side. I’m not generally a turkey bacon fan, but this was pretty tasty. It paired well with the confit and cheddar cheese. Our second course (pictured behind the turkey bacon skewer) had two slices of barbecue spiced artisan grilled hickory bacon. Happily moving on to my first love, real pork bacon, I was thrilled with this course. The bacon was sweet and spicy in all the right ways.

Our third and fourth courses weren’t as enjoyable for me, because the both included one of the few cheeses I absolutely loathe…blue cheese. I’ve gotten significantly less picky when it comes to food over the years, so I tried it this time around hoping I might develop a taste for it. Definitely not the case. It’s still as gross as I remember! For our third course, I scraped off the blue cheese and went to town on the maple glazed applewood-smoked bacon. It also tasted great, but was a little too sweet and sticky for my taste. The fourth course would have been one I looked forward to significantly, had the bacon-wrapped dates not been stuffed with a basil blue cheese. Nonetheless, I took a bite hoping for some mild enjoyment, but just couldn’t stomach it, so I tore off the bacon from the wrapped dates to finish off my final course. Of course, my distaste for blue cheese is far from the fault of Chef Joe Goetze of Founding Farmers. He put together an amazing tasting menu, and who wouldn’t complain about eating 8 slices of bacon for dinner?

To register for this event (which has dates available up until August 19, 2012), click here!

*As a disclaimer, I paid for this Living Social Deal out of my own pocket and all opinions are 100% my own.