If you follow the Ministry of Bacon or Bad Decisions on Twitter, you might have caught wind of the news that the popular Baltimore dive bar is hosting yet another Bacon & Beer Happy Hour.  You may also remember that we just hosted a Bacon & Beer Happy Hour at Bad Decisions just last week.  So why do it again so soon?

The Travel Channel, that’s why.

After we had already announced Bacon & Beer Happy Hour X, the Travel Channel came a-callin’ and said they’d like to feature Bad Decisions in a show called “Food Paradise”, which picks a favorite kind of food and visits the places that do it the best.  They were getting ready to do an episode on bacon, and purely by word of mouth, they found out about our Bacon & Beer Happy Hour.  Would we do it all over again for the benefit of their cameras?  You bet we would!

If you’ll be in or near Baltimore today, join the party anytime after 5:00 p.m.  The guest chefs from our last two Bacon & Beer Happy Hours will be teaming up to dish out the best items from each of their past menus, plus some fantastic new creations.  The bar will be serving up anything you want to drink (even if you’re not in the mood for a bacon cocktail).

Click here for the Facebook event page for tonight’s shindig.

UPDATE: The Baltimore Sun‘s nightlife blog, Midnight Sun, has posted the menu for tonight’s Bacon & Beer Happy Hour.

If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook, you’re well aware that our 10th edition of Bacon & Beer Happy Hour is going on today at Bad Decisions in Baltimore.  This time around, the all-bacon menu features the creations of guest chef Sajin Renae from Vino Rosina, who went with a Southern “comfort food” feel.  Here’s the menu:

If you’re one of our many Baltimore baconists, come on down anytime between now and two in the morning to treat yourself to some of the goodies!

Goodness knows that there’s no shortage of bacon recipes available on the web, but if you want to add to your skills with some in-person experience, the options are not quite as plentiful.  Luckily, we here at the Ministry are looking out for your best interests.

If you live in the Wasington, D.C. metropolitan area — or if you’ll be there for Thanksgiving weekend — recreational cooking school (and wine bar and retail store) Cookology will be offering a whole day of classes on Sunday, November 29th, during which you can learn how to make all sorts of fantastic bacon dishes.  The class schedule and details of each session are as follows:

• Baking Breads with Bacon, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.:

Editor’s note:  This past Saturday, Clipper City Brewing Company celebrated International Talk Like A Pirate Day with their first-ever “Bacon & Beer Fest”, featuring a bounty of some of Baltimore’s best beer and bacon dishes.  One of our most highly-esteemed baconists, Evan of The City That Breeds, was in attendance at this sold-out event and was gracious enough to file the following report for us.  — Bacon Bishop Spam

(if you’d like to read more about the beer and pirates and other such things about this event, go here.)

HELL YEAH $$$

You walk in through the front entrance and there it is sitting right in front of you: a big tray of bacon and a bar with four taps. All you care to taste bacon and beer, you say? Yeah. It’s the Bacon and Beerfest hosted by Clipper City Brewery, and this is the best 40 dollars you’ve ever spent, that’s for sure.

And I’m not just saying that. Not just for the beer aspect, but for the food alone this event could be worth 40 dollars, easily. With over 15 varieties of bacon (only a few of which I was able to taste) and a multitude of other bacon-centric food – most of which were really impressive, I cannot believe this thing didn’t sell out sooner than it did. Essentially, every bacon containing food creation you’ve received as a forward in your email was there, including the bacon explosion. Here’s a rundown of what I saw/ate – plus some bonus pictures!

• BACON BACON BACON – Pepper bacon, candied bacon, teriyaki bacon, bayou (cajun) bacon, the trays of bacon were seemingly endless. Though I don’t think I ever really saw over 15 varieties, I certainly tasted at least six. All of them were awesome. The candied bacon (aka Piggy Candy) stood out in my mind because it was definitely the most unique; literally like a candied apple, but …bacon. As it turns out, sweet and bacon go enormously well together.
• Chocolate Covered Bacon – Like I said, sweet and bacon. Chocolate covered bacon is no exception. The booth, put on by Sweet Cascades, also featured Old Bay seasoned chocolate, which was delicious as well.
• Bacon Wrapped Scallops / Water Chestnuts – John from Bad Decisions pulled out a few winners from his ever-popular Bacon and Beer happy hours and brought the sweet and smoky goodness of his bacon wrapped finger foods to the tray. They were just as good as before, but this time I didn’t pay extra for them!
• The Bacon Explosion / Bacon Cocoa Krisp – to be totally honest I had never seen a bacon explosion before this event, and when I saw that the fine freaks of Alonso’s Loco Hombre had put together several of them and were making sandwiches with them, I had to take the plunge. Yeah. It pretty much tastes like what you think it would – a seasoned sausage roll wrapped in bacon on a bun. And the bacon cocoa krisp? Holy CRAP. Like crunchy, puffy chocolate covered bacon. I just about peed my pants at this point of eating.

Some of the other things I saw but neglected to try: Bacon popcorn, bacon mac n’ cheese (from Crazy Lil’s – I’ve had it there before though and it’s a great appetizer), and some Canadian bacon BECAUSE IT’S NOT REALLY BACON JEEZ.

Good god, what a great time. Enjoy the pictures!

Read the review by Evan of The City That Breeds, both on his own blog and also on the Baltimore Sun‘s Midnight Sun blog.

The guy quoted saying “It’s like I’ve been slimed!” after eating The Gutbuster? That’s our own Bacon Bishop, Spam. (He also enjoyed the BBQ chicken & bacon nachos, but regretted not trying the GBLT—a guacamole, bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.)

Other highlights were the bacon-infused vodka supplied by locally-reknowned mixologist Evan, and the bacon cheddar beer cupcakes made by Bacon Bishop Spam and High Priestess Anna.

It was our best Bacon & Beer Happy Hour yet…and usual, people are already looking forward to the next one.