A Beer With Some Meat To It

We now return to "When Nordics Make a Beer...Part Deux!"

Everything is better with bacon, so they say.  Even saving the galaxy in Mass Effect 3.  Of course, such a pairing would work further wonders with a beer.  Specifically, Beer Geek Bacon, by Danish brewmeisters Mikkeller.

So what we have here is a fusion of two of the greatest edible substances known to mankind; bacon and beer.  Just sit back and give this equation of masterful brilliance a moment's thought.  Bacon and beer...brought together in glorious union.  What raving, maniacal madman of a genius plotted to bring these giants of flavour and chest-thumping masculinity together?  Whoever is responsible must be awarded a medal of honour.

The result is something (un)surprisingly unique; one of the few beers I've ever had that tastes more like it just came off the barbecue, rather than out of the beer fridge.  However, while other smokey beers may hearken back to those lovely summer nights on the patio, a steak on the grill, the smell of burning flesh wafting into your awaiting, flaring nostrils, this beer literally tastes of meat.  And as you might expect, this is not a bad thing.

Bacon, as a flavour, lacks subtly, so obviously I had concerns that this would be one of those silly flavoured beers that tastes entirely like the flavouring substance, and forgetting the taste of beer altogether (Lambic, I'm looking at you).  As it turns out, this is not the case; the meaty, greasy, manly flavour of bacon is more subtle than I would have expected, incorporating the smokey barbecue tastes that are often found in smoked ales with a more-than-hint and less-than-dollop of gloriously fried up pig.  While not as savoury as I had anticipated, the beer ends up being more complex and interesting than the expectation of booze-infused bacon strips.

But...despite all this, I'm not gibbering like a half-mad lunatic about the improbably brilliance of Bacon Geek Beer.  How can this be?  Well, there's no denying this is a good beer; very good in fact.  I just suppose the notion of combining the titans of taste together in one unified bottle of magnificence set expectations that were impossible to meet.  It's somehow not as intense as I would like; for all its complexity, I would like it to toss me about a bit, maybe rough me up, give me a fat lip and inform me that I'm to tell everyone I fell down a flight of stairs.  I like it when a beer plays hardball.  This one had a more gentle touch.  And that's a bit of a shame, but it's still not nearly enough to ruin the experience, not by a long way.

Taste:  Meat.  Smoke.  Barley and hops.  The manly fist-pumps will be without end.

Aroma:  Ever done that thing where you shove a beer can up a chicken's ass and roast it on the barbecue?  That, but with a pig instead.

Aftertaste:  Strange.  Smokey, slightly bitter, the intriguing meat flavour coming and going.  It's subtle for a flavoured beer, which is unexpected with bacon, and the result is something that lingers not unpleasantly.

Recommended?:  Yes

Verdict:  While it didn't blow my mind with 50 megatons of bacon grease as I had hoped, Beer Geek Bacon manages to be a surprisingly grown-up and sophisticated beer...especially when you consider it's pig flavoured.

Score:  8 mugs out of 10.




For more on Mikkeller, cruise on over to their website:  http://www.mikkeller.dk/index.php?land=1