The Smokehouse: Barbecue & Brews at the 2014 Epcot Flower and Garden Festival

The Smokehouse: Barbecue & Brews was a huge hit at the 2013 Epcot Flower and Garden Festival. This year it returned with mostly new menu items. Guests were most intrigued by the Piggylicious Bacon Cupcake.

The Smokehouse: Barbecue & Brews Menu

• Pulled Pig Slider with Coleslaw
• Smoked Beef Brisket with Collard Greens and Jalapeño Corn Bread
• Smoked Turkey “Rib” (TryIt!)
• Piggylicious Bacon Cupcake with Maple Frosting and Pretzel Crunch featuring Nueske’s Applewood-smoked Bacon
• Magic Hat #9
• Maduro
• Fat Tire
• Billy’s Chilies
• The Original Rib Shack Red Wine
• Beer Flight
• Seagram’s Orange Citrus Sparkling Water
• Minute Maid Light Lemonade
• Dasani Bottled Water

The beer flight featured craft beers from around the United States. Magic Hat #9 is a refreshing pale ale, Maduro (our favorite!) is a flavorful brown ale, Fat Tire is an amber ale and Billy’s Chilies (the most interesting of them all) is an unfiltered wheat beer with a spicy taste. We loved the Maduro and even went back for a second. Billy’s Chilies was by far the most interesting of beers with its chili flavor. It’s perfect with barbecue and would be great to use in making a beer cheese soup.

The Pulled Pig Slider was tasty but very dry. We tried with with the sweet and the spicy barbecue sauce, which it needed a lot of. Both sauce were good on it. Which is better really depends on your mood and preference.

Our least favorite was the Smoked Turkey “Rib”. Ours was fatty and just not we expected. It’s a good option for those that don’t eat pork or beef. If you do, I’d consider skipping this one. The beef brisket, which we loved last year, is a much better choice.

The one everyone was most curious about was the Piggylicious Bacon Cupcake. We heard several guests talking about it but not too many trying it. The cupcake itself was more like a cornbread than a cupcake. The Nueske’s applewood-smoked bacon that was used is a really good, high quality bacon. If you aren’t familiar with Nueske’s, the Wisconsin company features applewood smoked meats and is still made the traditional way. You can order their meats online. The maple frosting was a nice touch too. We could have done with out the pretzels though.

What did you like at The Smokehouse? Were one of those who tried the Piggylicious Bacon Cupcake? Share your thoughts in our comment section!

Planning a trip during the festival? Pick up DiningatDisney.com’s Guide to the 2014 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival! It’s just $4.99!