Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
In St. Helens, Oregon, Ye Ol’ Grog Distilling has created a side project with spirit. Two Birds Spirited Ice Cream and Cocktail Sorbets. They make 12 proof ice cream using mostly vodka but they have dabbled with beer. Due to liquor laws, this is a distillery only purchase but maybe or nascent but growing, L.A. scene will take note and make their own iced treats.
The premium ice cream-er Häagen – Dazs has a line of “spirits” ice creams and one of the five is beer related. (Quite frankly it looks to be the best flavor combo overall)
Wanna get some ice cream with your beer and you want to get some SF with that?
Humphry Slocombe has you covered with….. (my personal choices are in bold)
“From February 1st to February 10th, LA craft beer aficionados and ice cream lovers alike can get a taste of the special boozy flavors created in collaboration with key Bay Area Brewery partners at the Venice Shop. The flavor lineup includes:”
Drake’s Brut Rosé (Drake’s Brewing, featuring Rosé Beer Ice Cream with Lemon Zest)
Oolong Saison (Barebottle Brewing, featuring Oolong Saison and Pear Ice Cream)
Animal IPA Ice Cream (Fort Point Brewing, featuring Animal Ice Cream with Hop Caramel and flavored with Mango, Orange, and Passionfruit)
Coffee & Cigarettes (Cellarmaker, featuring Smoked Hops, Coffee Ice Cream, and Chipped Chocolate)
Fish & Chips (Hen House Brewing, featuring Red Rye Ice Cream with Goldfish Crackers and Chocolate Covered Potato Chips)
Anchor Porter with Fluff and Cookies (Anchor Brewing, featuring Anchor Porter Ice Cream with Chocolate Wafer Cookies and Marshmallow Fluff)
My wife and I have been enjoying the Los Angeles Ice Cream boom for a few months now. We even have a list, comprised of, need to visit, have visited – liked, have visited – didn’t like. I thought it was a nice long list but Eat Your Feelings was not on the list.
Now, thanks to Eagle Rock Brewery, I can get some ice cream and beer pairing going….
“Our friends from Eat Your Feelings will be out at the taproom serving up some delicious gourmet ice creams to have with your beer on Thursday, September 6th from 6-9pm. Bring some friends and see who can come up with the best flavor combinations! Maybe we can even convince Chef Jason to make an ice cream with that beer!”
Yeah, I have a thing for Egg Nog lattes and ice cream (Beer too if one would be made). But I only buy them during the holiday season. Since it is that time of year and since fancy ice cream is blowing up in L.A., I went out to taste two different versions.
Starting with the Boozy Egg Nog of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream. This is what I expect in a cone. It has the full spice profile but it also has enough of the “boozy” party to replicate (to an extent) the full experience.
McConnell’s version tasted close to the ideal. But it was an off white cream color without any speckles to it. I felt like I had mis-ordered and gotten French Vanilla. It had the nutmeg and spice but it was a bit too mild for my taste.
Not much Dale’s Bros. Brewery beer makes it to my neck of the L.A. woods and maybe the reason is that some is being siphoned off into ice cream for a new venture Scoops on Tap which is currently advertising two flavors of ice cream made with beer!
Pomona Queen Vanilla Malt
“This luscious ice cream features Dale Bros. Brewery Pomona Queen. The amber lager pairs perfectly with the vanilla malt base, making a delicious ice cream with notes of caramel, toffee and malt.”
California Black Beer Chocolate Ice Cream
“Chocolate lovers are welcome here! This ice cream features Dale Bros. Brewery California Black Beer. This drinkable dark lager contributes notes of chocolate and coffee, while Scharffen Berger Cocoa creates a rich and velvety chocolate flavor.”
It’s a Victory for ice cream. Yes, Belgian Brûlée and Strawberry Love would be great ice cream flavors not matter what, but add in the fact that it is made with Victory Brewing wort, then it sounds even better to me.
The Victory website describes Belgian Brûlée as a melding of “the rich, silky flavors of crème brûlée with subtle, delicious notes of V Twelve wort paired with the sweetness of brown sugar and the salty crunch of almonds. Strawberry Love offers juicy strawberries with refreshingly tasty Summer Love Ale wort and moist angel food cake within a rich, smooth strawberry and vanilla base.”
There have other flavors as well from Hopped-Up Devil, Triple Monkey and Storm Drop.
As I have wondered aloud before, I wonder who in L.A. could/would add ice cream to their brands.
Good ice cream much like good coffee gravitates to craft beer. Which is why you will see Scoops and Coolhaus doing beer ice creams.
Well you can add another one to the list! Quenelle which is just a few blocks from Tony’s Darts Away on Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank makes three quite good beer desserts.
Chimay was a simple take with no additional ingredients at all. Just the nice taste of the beer. You got both the beer and ice cream flavors. Which can sometimes elude some desserts where the beer can get lost. Next was the peach lambic which was nice and tart though light on peach. But again definitely beer-y and I liked the sharpness of it.
The friendly folks behind the counter sensing my beer nerdiness also grabbed a taster of grapefruit pale ale ice cream which was bursting with citrus and had a touch of hops in the back. Quite refreshing.
They have other non-beer flavors as well as popsicles so check them out.
Usually I have a special beer set aside for my birthday. But this year, I hemmed and hawed but nothing seemed to move me (or pair with apple pie which is my birthday dessert of choice). But in the end, I found something to truly celebrate with when my mom sent me a little something special from Breakside Brewery right down the hill…
For this, my 44th year, I have selected…
(Peep not included)
I will add my review below after my birthday for this collaboration between the prolific (100 new beers in 2013) Breakside and Salt & Straw Ice cream.
In the meantime, check HERE and HERE to see past birthday choices.
During L.A. Beer Week, you can find beer flavored ice cream or check out beer floats but Salt & Straw in Portland has created a 6 pack of “flavors feature beers from Breakside Brewery, Gigantic Brewing Company, Hair of the Dog Brewing Company, Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Ales, The Commons Brewery and Widmer Brothers Brewing.”
This part of the press release got me excited, “Instead of just using beer as a flavoring agent, head ice cream maker Tyler Malek collaborated with each brewer on techniques and ingredients to create each ice cream’s unique flavor profile.”
They will become available on June 1st and can be purchased through September for nationwide shipping and at Portland area scoop shops throughout the month of June.
Which of these would you buy? My first choice is below…..
Six pack of Oregon Craft Beer Ice Creams:
Cherry Adam from the Wood – Alan Sprints of Hair of the Dog Brewing has been experimenting with a barrel aging process since 1994. Barrel aging beers for up to eight years mellows out the flavors and transforms beers to create something completely new. Finding inspiration in Hair of the Dog’s “Cherry Adam of the Wood”, Salt & Straw created a dark malty, cherry ice cream and cold steeped it in a bourbon barrel from Hair of the Dog Brewery. This is the first truly barrel-aged ice cream ever churned; it’s only fitting to have Alan Sprints at our sides for this project.
Hopped Farmhouse Ale – Based off of Commons Brewery’s “Myrtle Farmhouse Ale,” Commons has brewed a tart sour mash to show off Meridian hops. Salt & Straw uses three different methods to steep the Meridian hops in order to capture the bright aromas of peach and refreshing bitterness of grapefruit that only this variety of hops can provide in this ice cream.
Bretta Fermented Pears and Fudge – David Logsdon at Logsdon Farmhouse Ales has a lifetime of experience creating and procuring yeast strains. Using his famous Bretta yeast strain and inspiration from their “Cocoa Bretta Ale”, Salt & Straw along with Logsdon Ales has carefully fermented both Pear Juice and a malted fudge syrup to make a Bretta Pear ice cream with ribbons of Bretta Malted Fudge. The fermentation brings out a variety of flavors as well as bringing out an entirely new dimension of flavors that marry the pear and chocolate flavors beautifully.
Passion fruit Berliner Weisse Marmalade in Coconut Water Sorbet – Breakside Brewery is constantly pushing the limits with both flavor combinations and their different brewing techniques. Using Breakside’s “Passion fruit Berliner Weisse,” we have worked together to create a tart, lactic acid-rich, passion fruit sweetened, marmalade. Salt & Straw churned out a coconut water sorbet in order to create a subtly sweet palate to show off this one-of-a-kind marmalade.
Smoked Hefeweizen – The brewers at Widmer Brothers Brewing know how to make a Hefeweizen. To recreate that sweet malty flavor of wheat ale, we’re working closely with Ben Dobler, the head brewer for Widmer. Salt & Straw takes a spin on their world famous Hefeweizen by smoking wheat malts and steeping them into the cream to create a Smoked Hefeweizen ice cream. The sweetness of wheat malts is the first to pop out in this ice cream; meanwhile, the subtle smokiness lingers on the palate making for the perfect beer ice cream for summer.
IPA Upside Down Cake – Gigantic Brewing Company’s Imperial IPA is laced with pineapple, citrus and piney hop profiles along with a rich maltiness. Salt & Straw captured these flavors in ice cream by using hop-back techniques to pull out the sweet and spicy hop flavors. To punch thru the tropical fruit notes, they baked off a Pineapple Upside Down Cake that is infused with Ho leaf and candied tangerine zest.
Bretta Fudge is my choice followed by the IPA Upside Down cake.