Best Bacon Beers: 10 Real Bacon-Flavored Beers Ranked

Bacon beer is a real, if small, brewing niche rather than a one-off internet joke, and brewers get there in genuinely different ways. Some build the smoke character from specialty smoked malts alone, the same technique behind a classic rauchbier, while others add real bacon or bacon flavoring directly into the brewing process on top of that smoked base. A few go all the way into breakfast territory with maple syrup, coffee and vanilla stacked on top, turning the beer into something closer to dessert than a savory novelty.

Below are 10 real bacon-flavored beers, ranked from strongest to lightest, spanning imperial pastry stouts, a bacon-infused red ale, and one genuinely famous discontinued classic. Each one lists the brewery, style and ABV, plus whether you can get it delivered through Saucey right now.

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1. Duncan’s Brewing Maple Bacon Pancake Imperial Pastry Stout

Brewery	Duncan’s Brewing Co. (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Style	Imperial Pastry Stout
ABV	10%

Duncan’s built the bacon character here from manuka-smoked malt rather than added bacon flavoring or extract, smoked the same way New Zealand smokes fish and meat, then layered vanilla, maple syrup and a full pancake-inspired malt bill on top. The brewery’s own line is that no actual pigs were harmed, just several sacks of manuka-smoked malt sacrificed for the cause. Sweet, sticky and genuinely smoky rather than tasting like an artificial bacon bit.

Not currently listed on Saucey; check Duncan’s Brewing Co.’s own site or your local bottle shop for availability.

2. Moersleutel EUREKA Maple Bacon Pancake Stout

Brewery	Moersleutel Craft Brewery (The Hague, Netherlands)
Style	Pastry Stout
ABV	10%

Moersleutel takes a different route to the bacon flavor than most brewers on this list: two separate smoked malts, one smoked on oak and one on beechwood, blended with a vegetarian bacon flavoring rather than relying on smoked malt alone. That combination is meant to build real depth rather than a one-note bacon impression, then maple syrup and coffee round out the rest of the diner-breakfast concept. One of the higher-rated pastry stouts in this flavor niche from a brewery known for pushing extreme adjunct combinations.

Not currently listed on Saucey; check Moersleutel Craft Brewery’s own site or your local bottle shop for availability.

3. Rockingham Belly of the Beast Imperial Bacon Stout

Brewery	Rockingham Brewing Company (Derry, New Hampshire)
Style	Imperial Pastry Stout
ABV	8.6%

Built on specialty smoked malts plus real bacon rather than flavoring, Belly of the Beast leans sweet and smoky enough that the brewery pitches it as a pairing option for anything from breakfast to dessert. It has scored consistently well since its 2016 debut, low-to-mid 4s out of 5 on early samplings and a solid 84/100 on BeerAdvocate, and there is also a barrel-aged maple-glazed variant at 10% ABV if the base version leaves you wanting more.

Not currently listed on Saucey; check Rockingham Brewing Company’s own site or your local bottle shop for availability.

4. SweetWater Dank Tank Pulled Porter

Brewery	SweetWater Brewing Company (Atlanta, Georgia)
Style	Smoked Porter (Bacon Smoked)
ABV	7.7%

Part of SweetWater’s limited Dank Tank series, this one starts with malt smoked for five hours at 250 degrees over a hot box to build real smoke character before it ever hits the mash, no shortcut extract involved. The result reads as a savory, smoky winter warmer first and a novelty bacon beer second, closer in spirit to a straight rauchbier with a bacon-forward marketing angle than most sweeter pastry-stout bacon beers.

Not currently listed on Saucey; check SweetWater Brewing Company’s own site or your local bottle shop for availability.

5. Oconee Brewing x Waffle House Bacon & Kegs

Brewery	Oconee Brewing Company (Greensboro, Georgia)
Style	American Amber / Red Ale (Bacon-Infused)
ABV	6.5%

A genuine collaboration between a Georgia craft brewery and Waffle House, built around a dark red ale base with real bacon extract layered on top of the standard hop aroma. The scent of bacon is meant to stand out over the beer’s own medium hop character, and the malt sweetness underneath is there specifically to balance the salty, smoky finish. It launched exclusively at Oconee’s own taproom in six-packs and on draft, so it was always a limited, hyper-local release rather than a national product.

Not currently listed on Saucey; check Oconee Brewing Company’s own site or your local bottle shop for availability.

6. Funky Buddha Maple Bacon Coffee Porter

Brewery	Funky Buddha Brewery (Oakland Park, Florida)
Style	American Porter (Coffee)
ABV	6.4%

This one earned a real accolade rather than just novelty attention: it placed at the 2016 World Beer Cup and holds a 99/100 score on BeerAdvocate, unusually high for a flavor-forward specialty beer. Funky Buddha built it as a full diner breakfast in a glass: sticky maple syrup, roasty coffee and smoky bacon layered onto a porter base, brewed with real roasted coffee beans and maple syrup rather than pure extract. One of the more widely distributed bacon beers on this list, released seasonally each January.

Not currently listed on Saucey; check Funky Buddha Brewery’s own site or your local bottle shop for availability.

7. Busey Brews Maple Bacon Stout

Brewery	Busey Brews (Smokehouse and Brewery, Illinois)
Style	Stout
ABV	5.8%

Brewed at a brewery that runs a smokehouse alongside it, so the bacon idea fits the operation rather than being a one-off gimmick pulled in from outside. It starts malty and maple-sweet up front, then finishes with a genuine smoky hint of bacon rather than an overpowering meat flavor. Amarillo hops round out the bittering side, which keeps it from tasting purely like dessert.

Not currently listed on Saucey; check Busey Brews’s own site or your local bottle shop for availability.

8. Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale

Brewery	Rogue Ales (Newport, Oregon)
Style	Smoked Ale (Brown Ale base)
ABV	5.6%

The beer that made bacon beer a mainstream punchline: a 2011 collaboration with Portland’s Voodoo Doughnut, brewed with real applewood-smoked bacon, maple flavoring and vanilla beans over a brown ale base, packaged in a bottle so pink it became a collector’s item on its own. Rogue has since discontinued it, and empty bottles now circulate as a minor eBay curiosity among beer collectors more than the beer itself does. Worth knowing for the history even though it is no longer in production; look for it at bottle shares or specialty shops with old stock.

Not currently listed on Saucey; check Rogue Ales’s own site or your local bottle shop for availability.

9. Barossa Valley Brewing I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bacon

Brewery	Barossa Valley Brewing (South Australia)
Style	Smoked Ale
ABV	5.5%

A local collaboration built around malt smoked with the same wood used for a regional award-winning bacon producer, rather than an extract or flavoring approach. The brewery leans into the pun hard (their own copy calls it “peaty, bacony proporktions”), but the smoke character underneath is a legitimate, food-grounded technique rather than just marketing. A distinctly Australian entry on a list otherwise dominated by American breweries.

Not currently listed on Saucey; check Barossa Valley Brewing’s own site or your local bottle shop for availability.

10. Behemoth Smoked Bacon Porter

Brewery	Behemoth Brewing Company (Auckland, New Zealand)
Style	Smoked Porter
ABV	5.4%

A collaboration release with BEERS Brewing built specifically around campfire-and-BBQ pairing, using genuinely smoky malt as the base for a hint of savory bacon character rather than an in-your-face meat flavor. It sits at the lighter, more balanced end of the bacon beer spectrum, closer to a standard smoked porter with a bacon accent than a full breakfast-in-a-glass pastry stout. Good entry point if the sweeter, 10%+ options on this list sound like too much.

Not currently listed on Saucey; check Behemoth Brewing Company’s own site or your local bottle shop for availability.

FAQs

What is the best bacon beer overall?

Funky Buddha Maple Bacon Coffee Porter is the strongest all-around pick, it earned real recognition at the World Beer Cup and is more widely distributed than most beers on this list. Rockingham’s Belly of the Beast is the best choice if you want a stronger imperial stout with real bacon in the brew.

How do brewers actually get bacon flavor into beer?

Two main approaches. Specialty smoked malts, smoked over wood like beechwood, oak or manuka, build a genuine smoky base similar to a rauchbier. On top of that, some brewers add real bacon, bacon extract, or vegetarian bacon flavoring directly during or after brewing to push the flavor further toward an actual breakfast-bacon taste.

Is Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale still available?

No, Rogue discontinued it years ago. It became a minor collector’s item, empty bottles still circulate among beer collectors, so your best chance of finding one now is an older bottle shop with leftover stock or a beer trading community, not a current retail shelf.

Do bacon beers actually taste like bacon, or is it mostly smoke flavor?

It varies. Beers built purely on smoked malt (like Behemoth or SweetWater’s Pulled Porter) taste closer to a classic smoked porter with a savory edge than actual meat. Beers that add real bacon or bacon flavoring on top of the smoked base (Rockingham, Moersleutel, Oconee’s collaboration) get noticeably closer to an actual bacon taste, especially in the finish.

From a manuka-smoked New Zealand pastry stout to a discontinued cult classic that turned into an eBay collectible, bacon beer covers more genuine brewing technique than the novelty label suggests. Pair one with an actual breakfast if you really want to commit to the bit.