Review: Beer And Bacon Tasting At Paddy Long's

By Caitlin Klein in Food on Jun 20, 2012 6:00PM

If you ate somewhere between 10 and 15 pieces of bacon, how would you expect to feel? Awesome? Terrible? A little shiny, maybe? Well, it’s time to find out. We heard about Paddy Long’s beer and bacon tasting, pairing five types of bacon with five different types of beer. The pairing is usually $36, but there are occasional LivingSocial deals that get you in for $18. We weren’t sure about subjecting ourselves to all of this pig meat, but we do it for you, dear readers. Err... that's right. All for you.

At Paddy Long’s beer and bacon tasting, you’ll find yourself in a dimly lit pub with a little plate, a little fork, and a little glass. The bartender checks you in on his laptop when you walk through the door, as reservations for the tasting are required. (We can’t have a mad run on bacon, now can we?) As the tasting starts, servers come to you holding trays of bacon. They serve you 2-3 pieces of each selection, one at a time. Another server comes around with a pitcher of beer, filling your little glass. The entire tasting takes 1 1/2 - 2 hours, and you’re encouraged to buy food or “side beers” since you must wait between each course.

The best part of the tasting is this: there is a lot of bacon, and bacon is good. The worst part of the tasting is this: there is a lot of bacon, and bacon is greasy. You have to really love bacon to not feel a little sick afterwards. Something Paddy Longs needs to do to improve the experience is cook the bacon a little longer. We accept that everyone likes their bacon differently (ranging from extremely limp to rubbery to crispy to charred black). The bacon you’ll try during the tasting is definitely in the limp range, but there are a few bright spots of crispiness.

The standout rashers were the pepper bacon (paired with Lagunitas IPA) and the brown sugar bacon (paired with Stone Smoked Porter). The verdict? Bacon lovers should do this, but only if you can get the discounted deal. It only pops up occasionally, so keep your eyeballs peeled.

The pairing selections change seasonally. Check out this season’s list of beer and bacon below.

Paddy Long’s Beer and Bacon Pairing

Ommegang Witte paired with local Irish Bacon

Lagunitas IPA paired with Pepper Bacon

Carlsberg paired with local Danish Bacon

House of Shandy Curious Travelar paired with Country Smoked Jowl Bacon

Stone Smoked Porter with Brown Sugar Bacon

Paddy Long's is located at 1028 W. Diversey.