Bourbon, Bacon and Cheap Trick, Oh My!

Saturday night at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mt. Pleasant, appeared to be a success for the evening portion of the brand new Bourbon & Bacon Festival's evening portion.

Restaurants from all over Michigan and distilleries the world over, conveined on the indoor concert hall of the central Michigan casino. Creations varied from pulled pork mac & cheese, to a nice porchetta, served on a roll with arugula and giardiniera Pasties, candied bacon and bourbon infused dishes were everywhere to sample. So much in fact, that many of the patrons had numerous extra tickets left over because they were just too full or being responsible for the ride home.

And then there were those that were hell bent on completing the book of 14 good sized food samples and the corresponding samples of bourbon and various other whiskey's. There was even a Fireball station that was quite busy. Fortunately for me, the line for the 16 year old scotch by Lagavulin was very short!

The entertainment for the evening, outside of those trying to exhaust their sample tickets, was a band from Detroit called "Stone Clover.". An Irish themed rock band whose high kicks and energy, warmed up well and was a great fit for an evening of imbibing. Headliners and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees Cheap Trick, rocked in their usual fashion, With additions Daxx Nielsen

(Rik's son) on drums in place of Bun E. Carlos. Guitarist Robin Taylor (Zander), son of lead singer Robin Zander, added to the full sound of the band.

Despite the distractions of food and booze, the band played on. And as you can imagine, it was "hit, after hit, after hit!"