Bodacious Bacon Beer Brittle // Stacey’s Sweet Spot // Moneta, VA

Her bona fides are fine and French — a professional chocolatier degree from the Ecolé Chocolat — but Stacey’s brittle is anything but. Fine Dominican cocoa nibs take a down-home southern turn with smoky local bacon, crunchy North Carolina pecans, hot habaneros, and a splash of roasty porter from the Sweet Spot’s neighbors at Parkway Brewing. For the lazy pitmaster’s dessert: An entire grilled-up meal, meat-to-nuts, covered in chocolate.

Porter Crackers // Beer Flats // Cincinnati, OH

If beer is liquid bread, and crackers crunchy beer, these take the connection literally. A hearty mix of whole grains, butter, and, of course, a rich malty brew gives these crisps enough strength to support serious slabs of sausage, or sate your beer-munchies all on their own with notes of dark rye, molasses, and a touch of cocoa.

Beer Caramel Pretzel Nuggets // Roni-Sue’s // New York, NY

Another classic bar side bite, long gone stale: stripped of their brawny Bavarian glory, most bar pretzels are banished to dusty snack bowls, pawed through by dozens of drunken hands. Good riddance. Leave those for the unenlightened and get hip to Roni-Sue’s redux, a collaboration with her neighbors at the Brooklyn Brewery: sweet, salty, crunchy pretzel nibbles infused with, what else? Beer.

Smoke & Stout Caramel Bar // Vosges // Chicago

Inspired by founder Katrina Markoff’s mix of traditional training (she’s a Le Cordon Bleu alum) and avant garde inspiration (she worked a stint at El Bulli), Vosges is as far from Hershey bars — in both directions — as it seems possible to get. Think Willy Wonka in a Saville Row suit: the Chicago-based chocolate factory makes everything from über-classic truffles to a whole shelf’s worth of bacon-infused bars to this particularly hybridized creation, a blend of Rogue Brewery’s chocolate stout, rich dark chocolate, and alderwood-smoked sea salt.

Green Chile Cheddar Brew Bread // Soberdough // Nashville, TN

It’s easy to get mystified by baking, but Soberdough has simplified the process to three steps (on the bag) and you get creative control over the beer. Jordan at Soberdough recommends a Pale Ale or American Lager. We recommend the near bulletproof plan of getting a 6-pack, drinking five and putting one in the bread. Fresh out of the oven, smother it in butter and honey or Fuego Salsa.

SlantShack Jerky // Bronx Pale Ale Beef Jerky // New York, NY

Sure, Jerky and “Mantry” can be a cliché, but when we stumbled across (no comma) Dave Koretz and Josh Kace using sustainably raised grass-fed beef from Vermont Highland Cattle Company and craft beer for this artisan meat treat, we took notice . This dried and true rubdown includes a blend of locally sourced Bronx Pale Ale and Tin Mustard. Tear into a bag of this dehydrated goodness, while rehydrating with an ice cold brew and seeking refuge from that convenience store stuff.

Bourbon Sarsaparilla Float Recipe Here

Liddabit Sweet // Beer & Pretzel Caramels // Brooklyn, NY

In a little nook in Brooklyn, a hustlin’ team of just five are measuring, cooking, dipping, and wrapping at one of the coolest treat shops in America. Knocking out everything from chewy candy bars that would have you snickering at a snickers to lollipops hand poured on bamboo sticks (which means no little sludgy bits of paper in your mouth). For these flavor hits, Brooklyn Brewery Ale is stirred into buttery caramel made with locally sourced Ronnybrook Dairy Cream. The final touch is chunks of salty Martin’s Pretzels, hand twisted and stone-hearth baked in the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country.

Bacon, Beer Jelly & Brie Sandwich Recipe Here

Anarchy In A Jar // Spiced Beer Jelly // Brooklyn, NY

Two things Brooklyn is really good at right now: beer and canning. Laena McCarthy packs both under one lid starting with Sixpoint Craft Ale and local apples from Terhune Orchards in Jersey, finishing things off by infusing the mix with exotic spices like grains of paradise and black cardamom. Revel in this smearable beer by swiping some on a Beer Flat with a hunk of aged cheddar or enjoy the only PB & Jelly sandwich that mom wouldn’t have snuck in your school lunch box.

Dogfish Head Brewery // Hardtack Chowder // Rehoboth Beach, DE

If you’re a believer that the addition of beer makes most things better, you may be happy as a clam with this can. One of the nation’s most celebrated breweries Dogfish Head partnered with a local clam harvester and ripped the recipe for Herman Melville’s classic American novel “Moby Dick” to produce a whale of chowder. Sustainably harvested Quahog Clams, Pounded ship biscuits, and salted pork is enriched with butter. Just add 8 ounces of half and half and 3oz of brown ale (try Dogfish Palo Santo Marron) and simmer over low heat, a chance to tuck into a super bowl early.

Ovenly Bacon Caramel Corn // Brooklyn, NY

Smoky bacon from the pasture-raised hogs of award-winning Benton’s Country Hams is tossed with organic popcorn and smothered in a Brooklyn Brewery Pennant Ale caramel. The greatest thing in caramel corn since the worst thing, Cracker Jack last year debuting their caffeinated popcorn aptly named “Cracker Jack’d”.

Brooklyn Brine Hop-Pickle // Brooklyn, NY

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and Brooklyn Brine have collaborated on a “first-of-its-kind culinary leap of taste”, well… it’s a damn good Pickle. The all-natural, earthy Hop-Pickle is made with Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, caramelized onions and Cascade hops and is packaged by hand in Brooklyn Brine’s small artisanal kitchen. Consider going full hipster and knock back a “pickleback” by chasing 1 ounce whiskey with an ounce of pickle juice, full sleeve tattoo and inner urge to be a barista is sure to follow. 

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