BEER BACON & BRUNCH

February of 2019 was a pretty big milestone for my little (not so little anymore) brunching side venture. It marked a year of brunching fun with beautiful babes here on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. And in honor of reaching that one year mark, I decided to do something very special. Something we have never done before… I finally invited the boys! After an entire year of; “I like brunch!” “When can we come to brunch?” “What about Guys That Brunch??” we opened the figurative doors and let the boys in. And what better way to celebrate our very first co-ed brunch event, than with a Beer and Bacon themed Brunch!

THE SPOT

Now don’t get me wrong, I love our guys, but I will always call a spade a spade… Their attention span can be on the shorter side. And while they had all been spouting their love and interest in our “brunchcapades” we needed to make sure they didn’t lose interest half way through lol! So my wonderful best friend Cass suggested Waikiki Brewing Company in Kaka’ako. And let me tell you. The girl knows her stuff. If you want beer, bacon and brunch, then this place is PERFECT. Hearty brunch options, fantastic drinks, plenty of delicious beer on tap and best off all a spacious outdoor patio with rustic picnic tables and giant games! If you ask me, this is how Guys and Gals were meant to brunch together.

THE DESSERTS

Confession time. As soon as my children are no longer toddlers, I will be that mom that allows dessert to come first in the natural order of things… Well at least on special occasions. Which is why we are going to kick off the “Beer Bacon Brunch” theme specifics with our dessert bar! Obviously, when it comes to a Bacon themed event, you can expect there to be BACON! So bacon is what I did!

Our cake was a simple two-layer chocolate cake with a maple buttercream frosting with a maple glazed bacon crumble in the center! And for a garnish I topped it with additional crumble as well as bacon roses!

I used the same Maple Buttercream frosting for the cupcakes and inside the cake pops as well! The cupcakes had a cinnamon spiced cake and was topped off with the candied bacon crumble. Each cake pop was covered in milk chocolate and of course… Bacon crumble!

And last, but certainly not least on the dessert front! Our hand painted sugar cookies! These are without a doubt my favorite part of the entire dessert making process. And with a theme like Beer Bacon Brunch… I literally couldn’t go wrong!! I love that I can not only customize the theme of the cookies to match our event, but I can also include the name of the business we are experiencing!! And I’m just gonna say it one more time for the cheap seats… Beer Bacon Brunch… There was no shortage of awesome options here!!

THE DECOR

I feel like I just keep saying the word Bacon over and over again… But honestly, I can’t see how that is a bad thing!! When designing this event, I drew inspiration from the very first Valentines Day that my husband and I had together. I decided way back then, the most effective way to share my heart and show my love? A bouquet of bacon roses. So, as I did all those years ago, I decided to show our brunchers my affection by making bouquets of bacon roses to span the tables as centerpieces! I offset all the bacon with some live roses in the midst. We also decided to lay the cookies down the center off the table as well!

You can learn to make this fun and unique gift as well!! Just click below to get a full tutorial with photos on how to make your very own BACON ROSE BOUQUET!

Our take home gifts for this event came in the form of cement containers housing faux succulents and probably the coolest thing I have ever found on Amazon… Bacon lollipops!!! In addition to the take home portion, a $5 donation from each ticket was made in honor of our guests to our current Non-Profit choice, the Surfrider Foundation. For those of you unfamiliar, since January of 2019 we have implemented a new policy. We will be donating a portion of our proceeds from every brunch to a different non-profit of choice. It is just a small way that we can give back to a community that gives us so much!

THE FOOD

As I mentioned above, the food was a heartier take on brunch than we had seen in the past. But at a brewery with a bunch of boys, I think it was the perfect choice! From giant pretzels to Biscuits and Gravy, going hungry is not an option!

THE DRINKS

A monster Bloody Mary, frosty mugs of beer, sweet Mimosas, and loved ones to cheers them with… Don’t need to say much else!

THE GUYS AND GALS

There is no better way to finish up this post than with the heart and soul of Brunch with Aloha, the women… And of course in this case? The fellas that love them!