Q&A with Founder of Bacon and Beer Festival
Bacon and Beer Festival Denver
Bacon or beer? If you can’t pick a favorite their is a festival that is all about bringing the two together. It’s simply named the Bacon & Beer Festival. It started with Eat Boston’s Aaron Cohen, who has organized similar festivals for Boston and decided to expand to Denver. We chatted with Cohen who brings insight to the festival that will likely make it back to Denver for round three in 2014.
- Carri: How did you come up with the idea of Bacon & Beer Fest?
- Aaron: In Boston near where my office , there was this great building I wanted to do an event in and I figured a beer fest might be a good fit. We were trying to come up with a way to differentiate it from other beer fests, and bacon seemed like a good way.
- Carri: Did you anticipate this much success?
- Aaron: While planning the first one, I didn’t really anticipate putting on Bacon and Beer Festivals in other cities, but I figured it would do alright. The last 3 in Boston have sold out in a few minutes, and a small one coming up in Philly sold out in 30 seconds. I didn’t really expect it to be THAT popular.
- Carri: Why did you choose to expand the Bacon And Beer Fest to Denver?
- Aaron: Denver’s restaurant and beer scene are pretty great! And Jossie, a Bostonian living in Denver, kept badgering me to do it here. A good portion of the planning gets done on the phone and over email, so I just had to psyche myself up to plan a second big event in a year. This year we’ll do four, and next year maybe six or eight.
- Carri: Tell us about the humor behind baller tickets?
- Aaron: Baller tickets are exactly like regular tickets, but they cost more and let you call yourself a baller. Being a baller comes from inside of you, it doesn’t come from getting in early or skipping the line because you paid more. The people who buy Baller tickets understand this. At the same time, I do get a lot of questions about whether there’s really a some hidden perk of Baller tickets. People sometimes don’t believe what it says on the tin. We sold 40 in Denver this past year.
- Carri: Where else will Bacon & Beer Fest expand to?
- Aaron: Next year we’ll be in Boston, the Bay Area, Philly, Denver, and maybe a few other cities we’re currently working on. I don’t really like talking about events before they definitely happen, but we should be announcing some new cities right after the New Year.
- Carri: Does the Denver foodie scene compare to Boston’s?
- Aaron: Absolutely. I think more and more cities are starting to have bigger scenes of restaurants that put a lot of care into their food. Well, there have always been restaurants that care, but there’s just a general craft aesthetic present in more and more restaurants. Denver definitely has bars and restaurants that could open up anywhere and succeed serving the menus they’re currently serving.
- Carri: What are your goals for next years event?
- Aaron: Hmm. I always like the next year to be better than the previous year so we’ll fine tune a few things and go from there. I’d like to continue to raise more and more money for the local non-profits we’re supporting (this year Metro CareRing and Project Angel Heart).
