I first talked about this soup here.  
I have to admit, was not real eager to try this soup.  I can not stand the taste of beer.  PERIOD!  It doesn't take much in a recipe for me to be able to taste it.  With that being said, the soup wasn't bad.  I would try it with ginger ale next time though.
Before I tell you what I thought of the soup I need to be fair and tell you about some changes I made to the recipe.
First, the recipe tells you to cook the bacon just to render out the fats, not to make crispy.  I did not render out enough of the fats and in fact next time, I would cook the bacon until it IS crispy.  I don't like limp bacon, I like my bacon extra crispy.
Second, I TOTALLY forgot to cook down the onions and celery before adding the flour!  Ummmm......ooops!
So my bacon was limp and my veggies were crispy!  HAHA!
Next, I am not on a budget to be able to purchase "Aged White Cheddar" so good ol Yellow Sharp Cheddar it was!
I did NOT add one tablespoon salt!  Oh my word!  That is a TON of salt!  Especially when your cheese is salty and half the other ingredients have a ton of sodium in them.  I added one TEASPOON and I thought that was too much, I also don't add salt to anything I cook (most of the time, there are some exceptions) so next time I think I will cut it down to 1/2tsp.
I also thought there was far too much pepper.
SO!  After all of that.....my review.....
This is a REALLY good soup!  My very picky 5 year old LOVED it, my husband LOVED it, I didn't LOVE it so much.  I think after I make the adjustments I want to make I will LOVE it also.
I can't wait to try the real thing!