Yes, you read that correctly. Bourbon, Bacon, Beer, and Barbecue all under the same roof! I had heard about the 1st Annual 4B Festival taking place in New Haven when it was first announced. I dropped the ball on getting tickets before they sold out so was super excited when I saw Stephanie from CTBites was hosting a giveaway for them. And I won!! I think this was my first giveaway win (it’s about time) and a pretty awesome one at that.
The 4B Fest was held in an old factory in New Haven, Connecticut. It was marketed as the “largest indoor festival celebrating two cornerstones of American heritage:Fermented grains & Salted meats!” (www.4bfest.com) There were a ton of local vendors signed up including some of my favorite local restaurants.
I’ll start with my absolute favorite treat from the entire event. Ready for it??
A Maple Bacon Cupcake from Alyssa’s Cakery. It was to die for!
Alyssa’s Cakery is in Wallingford, Connecticut. She was sampling an Orange Allagash cupcake that was really delicious too. Her other flavors included Irish Car Bomb and Red Velvet. On top of the cupcakes she also had cake pops and push pops!
Another favorite booth was The Jerky Hut. They had a ton of different flavored jerkys they were sampling. I tried the sweet flavor as well as the bourbon flavor. We decided to buy some of the bourbon flavored jerky. It was bit pricey though!
I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked. It was super crowded and almost everything had long lines. Some other favorites not pictured…
Black Rock BBQ: They had the most generous sized samples of their delicious pulled pork. Black Rock BBQ is a catering company who specialize in southern style barbecue cooking.
Two Roads Brewing Company: Two Roads is a local brewery right in Stratford, Connecticut. My favorite brew was their Worker’s Comp Saison!
Drinx Unlimited: Drinx Unlimited is a local beer distributor out of Connecticut. They were sampling a few different Founder’s Beers. My favorite was their Curmudgeon Old Ale brewed with molasses with a 9.8% abv.
Joey C’s Roadhouse: This is one of mine and Andy’s favorite barbecue restaurants in Connecticut. We didn’t even get to try what they were sampling because their line was so long the entire time we were at the event. Go Joey C’s!
Cabin Fever Maple Whiskey: Just as we were leaving this booth caught our eye. I am not a whiskey drinker but after Andy tasted it he convinced me I would like it. And I did! Anything maple has a good chance of passing a taste test for me. They have a pretty cool story too if you check out their website!
Overall, the event was pretty good. I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars. It has potential to be much more organized and maybe in a more wide open space. All of the vendors we tried and met were awesome though. Great local products. Besides bacon and beer make everything better!
The Primal Yogi 
That. Looks. Awesome. I never knew such a glorious thing as the 4B existed! Don’t tell my family; they would never leave.
Oh yes, concept is awesome! They should have month 4B Festivals 🙂
The tickets cost $50 each and gave you access to about 2 oz. beer from each vendor after waiting on line for 15 minutes each time. Same issue with the BBQ. One place gave me one chip with some pulled pork on it. For $50, it was not worth it. I left hungry and sober.
Yeah, I won the tickets so it wasn’t as big of a deal for me. Hopefully next year it will be a bit more organized!
I can’t even begin to tell you had sad it made me to find out about this so late and be unable to go. Those 4 Bs make life worth living, so I appreciate the write-up to at least get the second hand experience. Curious to try out the Cabin Fever Whiskey now…
Definitely mark your calendar for the next one! I have a feeling it will be even better!
I was so incredibly disappointed to find out about this late and not be able to go. These are 4 Bs that make life so much fun (and for a 5th one I would definitely go with burgers). It was good to at least get the secondhand experience from your post – the whiskey sounds pretty interesting…
(Hoping this isn’t a double comment post – hahahaha)
U missed nothing Kevin. Worst run event of all time. Hour wait to get in then 10 minute wait for everything.. Half the vendors promised were not there.. Was not fun, i even sliced open my arm on An exposed nail in wall. When i let official know they did nothing about it. Rusty Nail was still sticking out of the wall two hours later on my way out. They did provide Porto pottyies which was nice but there was a 3 stall 3 urinal bathroom at the facility that was guarded so no one could use inside the facility. Guard had no reason why we were not allowed to use either boys or girls rooms. All being said there was a good selection of bourbon to choose from if you didnt mind waiting a minimum of ten minute. I will NOT be attending this next year despite offering me 25 percent off next year. They offered all attendees 25 percent off next year because of all the complaints and issues.
Trust me you did not miss a thing. The whole thing was big flop in my opinion, and i know I’m not the only one.
I see things are looking a little different around here! Love it 🙂
The festival sounds delicious! I love anything that involves food and beer tasting!
Thanks Anna! Baby steps but I’m a lot happier with how it looks 🙂