{"id":24064,"date":"2023-06-26T13:53:23","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T20:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=24064"},"modified":"2023-08-22T11:28:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T18:28:21","slug":"langford-bacon-beer-and-bourbon-festival-hugely-successful-despite-cramped-quarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2023\/06\/26\/langford-bacon-beer-and-bourbon-festival-hugely-successful-despite-cramped-quarters\/","title":{"rendered":"Langford Bacon Beer and Bourbon Festival hugely successful despite cramped quarters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last weekend, the City of Langford teamed up with Hertel Meats and Stanley Park Brewery to present the Bacon Beer and Bourbon Festival, which also included several different whiskey and food vendors. The event was held at Langford\u2019s Starlight Stadium, or rather, it was held outside of the stadium. Because of the amount of people there, it felt so cramped that it was difficult to move; together with the hot evening sun radiating off the concrete, it was absolutely stifling. I wish the event was in the grassy football field sitting empty a dozen feet away from the broiling sardine can of the festival, but perhaps the intention was to make the guests feel like roasted bacon, pickled in alcohol.<\/p>\n

There was a heavy security presence at the event, requiring all bags to be checked, and certain bags like backpacks prohibited entirely, along with any water bottles, showing that comfort and hydration was clearly not a priority for the event organizers. I\u2019ve been to scores of alcohol festivals and I\u2019ve never been to one as strict, but, eventually, with only a slight loss of dignity, we gained entry to the venue.<\/p>\n

Upon entering, we were presented with a bacon kebab from Hertel Meats, which consisted of thick tasty chunks of what seemed to be a smoked maple bacon, and, together with a complimentary can of beer from Stanley Park, it was a refreshing start to the festival. The Waypoint Hazy Pale Ale (5.2%) is light and refreshing with a gentle bite, which, for the more casual beer drinker, lacks the moderate hops that are often associated with pale ales.<\/p>\n

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A scene from last weekend’s Bacon Beer and Bourbon Festival (photo by Lane Chevrier\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WhistlePig Farm & Distillery showed off their PiggyBack 100-proof Bourbon Whiskey, which for a 50% spirit was surprisingly sweet, without the harsh burn you usually get from strong alcohols. Caramel, maple, and vanilla flavours make this a delightful sipping bourbon that won\u2019t make you wince.<\/p>\n

Old-timers and newcomers alike could rejoice to find the classic strong, sweet liqueur Southern Comfort (35%) in attendance, offering up their Bourbon & Peach Arnold Palmer Iced Tea Cooler. This takes the tried-and-true Southern Comfort flavour and adds a bit of lemon and black tea, which is a very simple combination that works quite well. It\u2019s a concoction delicious and unassuming enough that it should be approached with caution if you plan on doing anything that requires brain cells later on in the evening.<\/p>\n

Bin 4 Burger Lounge was in attendance, and presented me with the Not So Boaring slider, which combined wild boar and pork, bourbon bacon jam, Philips Citrus Lager, gouda cheese sauce, crispy onions, and bacon aioli on a little brioche bun. Seeing a boar-based burger made me want to pig out a bit, and it gave the simple pork burger a bit of a gamier flavour and certainly hit the spot.<\/p>\n

As an event sponsor, Stanley Park was the only brewery in attendance, and while I can\u2019t say I\u2019ve found anything particularly unique or adventurous about their beer, the phrase \u201chitting the spot\u201d can usually be said about most of their beers, including the Park Sesh Lager (5%). Simple but clean, this was a must-have in the sweltering heat, and it\u2019s the sort of summer lager that can make you feel so refreshed that you forget to drink water alongside it, assuming you have any on you.
\nStillhead Distillery offered their B-Word Bourbon Style Canadian Whisky (40%), which unlike the PiggyBack, is more akin to what one might expect from a strong alcohol, with an extreme burn in the throat that really makes you commit to the experience. With strong leather and smoky flavours, together with the live country-western music at the event, this whisky made me feel just like a rooting’, tooting’ cowboy (at least for a minute or two away from objective scrutiny).<\/p>\n

Finally, to finish off the evening, I tried Garrick\u2019s Head Pub\u2019s house-made Bacon Ice Cream with caramel bourbon sauce. While I was expecting to find a mildly bacon-flavoured ice cream, I was surprised to discover that there is actually little bits of real bacon mixed into it, which is an unusually successful combination, although the cold bacon does leave a bit of a greasy film on the tongue. The sauce is very much a caramel, but the bourbon flavour is more of an \u201cI\u2019ll take your word for it\u201d addition, since I couldn\u2019t taste it at all, but regardless, it was a unique and delicious dessert.<\/p>\n

Judging by the patron density, the Bacon Beer and Bourbon festival was a smashing success, with tasty treats, excellent spirits, and decent beer. If it returns next year I’d love to see it in the football field, which would undoubtedly make it a more comfortable experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last weekend, the City of Langford teamed up with Hertel Meats and Stanley Park Brewery to present the Bacon Beer and Bourbon Festival, which also included several different whiskey and food vendors. The event was held at Langford\u2019s Starlight Stadium, or rather, it was held outside of the stadium. Because of the amount of people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,238,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-life-sports","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24064"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24185,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24064\/revisions\/24185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}