BEER BACON NUTS

Beeeeer. Put it in any sort of food description and suddenly people are all “OOOOH,” and “AHHHH.” If you were to say “chocolate cake” people would be like “Oh, cool,” but if you say “beer chocolate cake” people will be like “Whhuuutttt???? I want some!” Think about it. Cheese vs. beer cheese. Pork vs. beer braised pork. Pizza vs. Beer & Pizza. It’s an instant enhancement. It’s kind of the same thing with bacon. Bacon anything is intriguing. The sentence “I have bacon chocolate chip cookies,” yields a lot more excitement than the mere “I have chocolate chip cookies.” What is it about beer and bacon that they make anything an intriguing novelty???

Duh. Because both are pretty awesome on their own, so obviously they’d make anything else even MORE awesome. But what if the two are paired together into one cluster of awesomeness? Do heads explode? Are minds blown? Does world peace suddenly ensue because everyone’s happy? Nah, not really. But deliciousness happens and that’s happiness enough! Let’s continue on this Super Bowl-friendly beer theme and mix in some bacon! The game is a few days away and you’re going to need some snackitude, so it’s time to get serious. Beer. Plus some bacon. Plus some nuts. All of it candied together.

Say whuuuttt? Oh yes, we’re going there. Before we get to the recipe, here are a few quick notes.

	We've made this a few times, so we've adapted the recipe to our preferences. Such as MORE BACON. The original recipe calls for 6 slices, but we felt that wasn't enough for the amount of nuts involved. We recommend 8. I could even push it to 9, I ain't scared. But hey, it's your prerogative.
	The nut selection. The original recipe calls for peanuts, corn nuts, and almonds in varying proportions. Corn nuts are perfectly un-classy and appropriate for football food, and peanuts are easy on the pocketbook (also, very football snacky). Instead of almonds, we went with pecans because we like pecans. You could use pistachios if you want. You could use whatever you have in your pantry if you want. It'll be just dandy.
	As for the beers, we've used nut brown beers and regular ol' nonfancy beer. Honestly, I can't remember if it made a ginormous impact or not so I'm going to assume not. While the foodie in me should recommend a dark, nutty, rich beer, the regular schmoe in me wants to let you know that it's going to be addictive either way so just use what you have!
	This stuff gets STICKY. Portion it out using cupcake liners. It looks cute and everyone can grab a little bunch and munch. If you plan ahead and like a cute presentation, get liners in the team colors. I happened to have orange liners. I like Peyton Manning and will be cheering for the Broncos. Therefore, orange cupcake liners won.