Best of Both Worlds Cheesecake

OK, we all love beer and bacon so why not combine the two in the ultimate cheesecake! I made this for my homebrew club's Christmas party and it got rave reviews.

Cheesecake Recipe:
http://www.grouprecipes.com/31354/new-york-style-cheesecake.html
(I left out the lemon juice and replaced the graham crackers with finely crushed pretzels.)

While the cheesecake bakes, fry up 6-8 slices of thin cut bacon until very crispy(not burnt) and then crumble it. When cake cools, spread crumbled bacon over top of cheesecake.

Ganache Recipe:
12-14 ounces chopped dark chocolate
8 ounces Imperial Stout reduced down to 2-3 ounces
8 ounces Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons butter

Reduce Imperial Stout then add cream to pan and bring to a simmer, over low heat add chocolate and stir until almost completely melted, remove from heat, add butter and stir until everything is melted and you have a very smooth ganache. Let cool a little and once it starts to thicken pour over top of cheesecake. Let cool on counter a few hours then place in fridge overnight. Serve the next day drizzled with the caramel sauce accompanied by your favorite Imperial Stout or English Barleywine. I served mine with The Bruery's "Black Tuesday" as an additional gift to the club.

Caramel Sauce Recipe:
I followed Sean Paxton's recipe for Rochefort 10 Caramel Sauce but used a homebrewed English Barleywine instead.
http://www.merchantduvin.com/pages/1_about/recipes/rochefort_8_ice_cream.htm/

Try putting some bacon on a third of it and then cover it with the ganache. If you can remember which part of the cheesecake has the bacon you can serve that to yourself and then let them try it. Or sprinkle it on top of a small portion before the ganache firms up...