Eat Boston's Annual Bacon & Beer Fest Highlights Natural Pairing, Raises Over $16k for Charity

Two of the three Eat Boston annual Bacon & Beer Fest events occurred this weekend, raising over $16,000 for local food-aid charities Lovin' Spoonfuls and Community Servings, according to founder Aaron Cohen. Be sure to click through the galleries for more details in the captions.

Grid View

• Chef Josh Lewin (Beacon Hill Bistro) prepping additional orders of his dish -- A Persian inspired item in which he used lamb belly (in lieu of pork) to make his bacon.
• Some of the 1200 attendees waiting in line for Eat Boston's Beer & Bacon Fest
• Once inside, attendees could try food from more than 25 restaurants and more than 20 breweries.
• Local brewer Clown Shoes brought their (normally vegetarian) Porcine Unidragon -- a Russian imperial stout -- and ran it through a bacon filter to even better match the theme.
• Chef Samuel Monsour (jm Curley) adds blackout mayonnaise to his offering of bacon fat confit pork shoulder,
• What jm Curley saved in signage was poured back into the 7 gallons of bacon fat used to make their dish
• Adam Gendreau (Rising Sun Tavern), Aaron Cohen (Founder, Eat Boston), and Will Gilson (Puritan & Co.)

Saturday afternoon, the 1200 attendees who were able to purchase tickets in the few minutes before they sold out, had an opportunity to go to the House of Blues and sample bacon dishes from more than 25 area restaurants as well as beers from another 20+ mostly local breweries. Most food and beer was plated and poured by the chefs and brewers themselves.

Crowd favorite food options included a sweet bacon custard pie from Suzi Maitland (Trina's Starlite Lounge), bacon sausage rolls from Sam Jackson (KO Catering and Pies), and the pork belly buns from Brandon Arms (Garden at the Cellar). For beer, anything with a bacon theme seemed to generate long lines, including Cape Ann Brewing's Kevin Bacon barleywine, and Watch City's Bacon Kolsch.

Conscious decisions to decrease the number of tickets sold and increase the number of open stairwells inside the House of Blues appeared to alleviate traffic control problems that hindered the enjoyment of last year's fest for some goers.

Grid View

• Adam Gendreau, of Rising Sun Tavern, assembles a meal of bacon fat deviled eggs, panzanella dressed in bacon vinaigrette, and bacon fat brushed pound cake.
• Jim Shelton (right) of High & Mighty Brewing holds court on the Lido deck.
• Bacon fashion was visible all weekend. This karaoke superstar and her friends made their own accessories out of bacon-themed fabric
• Mark O'Leary, of Kitchensurfing, brushed bacon fat on to pound cake, because that's how he rolls.
• Some of the crowd gathered for the bacon and beer cruise

Sunday, a smaller, but still sold-out crowd, boarded The Freedom for a Boston Harbor karaoke cruise. Cruisers tossed back beers from High & Mighty and Smuttynose while enjoying a bacony brunch from Rising Sun Tavern and belting out karaoke provided by The People's Karaoke.

-Drew Starr

· Bacon and Beer Fest [~Eat Boston~]