Beer & Girl Scout Cookies Pairing Year 5

Our annual sugar fest in which we support the Girl Scouts and use as an excuse to play with beer happened Sunday. Last year we split the event into two separate days since we were able to get our hands on some out-of-state offerings and while that was fun, what we have access to here is more than enough to put us into sugar shock.

Here was our lineup:
- Do-Si-Dos (aka Peanut Butter Sandwich)
- Samoas (aka Caramel De-Lites)
- Savannah Smiles
- Shortbreads (aka Trefoils)
- S'mores (the non-vegan graham cracker sandwich version)
- Tagalongs (aka Peanut Butter Patties)
- Thin Mints
- Toffee-Tastic (gluten-free)

Per our usual we gathered at our favorite watering hole (which by the way was just named as Oregon's favorite beer bar by Craftbeer.com's readers), opened all the boxes and started hitting the coolers to pull out beers to pair with the cookies.

First up was Chris' pick of Berried at Sea from Pelican, their Tsunami Stout that was aged in oak barrels with blackberries and currants to re-ferment. Along the lines of a sour stout, the acidic profile somewhat distracted from the overall profile of the beer. Nonetheless, it found a peanut butter partner to its "jelliness" in the Do-Si-Dos and Tagalongs. Going a lighter route it created an acid-expected berry lemonade flavor with the Savannah Smiles, which we've agreed is The Best Beer Cookie (more on that below).

Another beer that made fast friends with the two peanut butter cookies was Fort George From Astoria with Love, the Russian Imperial Stout is the base beer for all of Fort George's Matryoshka variants. Mag was impressed by Do-Si-Do's ability to hold its own against the 9.4% beer while Kris would be happy to sit down with a box and a few cans to fully indulge in the rich pairing. Speaking of decadent pairings, Left Hand Wake Up Dead Russian Imperial Stout made for a great one with the other peanut butter cookie, Tagalongs. For a more complimentary pairing to the Do-Si-Do's, reach for Crooked Stave St. Bretta. Now available in 12oz cans, the beer pleasantly lightened the richness of the cookie while the cookie brought to the forefront more of the dryness in this Saison.

Samoas, historically a difficult cookie to pair due to the coconut and over the top sweetness, found many beer friends this time around.
- Falling Sky Juniper Rye became more malty, in a very pleasant way
- Boulevard Rye on Rye, a rye-heavy beer on its own, was moderated and made more enjoyable
- Baerlic What the Fluff NE-style IPA accentuated the saltiness of the cookie while toning down its sugar forwardness
- Evil Twin B is for Blueberry brought the chocolate component in the cookie to prominence
- Left Hand Nitro Bittersweet found its only cookie buddy here

Falling Sky Juniper Rye, Boulevard Rye on Rye and Baerlic What The Fluff also paired well with the S'mores graham cracker sandwich cookies. So, too, did pFriem Cognac barrel-aged Belgian Style Dark Ale. The 10.3% beer was well balanced between its booziness and its Belgian characteristics.

Toffee-Tastic, the Girl Scout's gluten-free offering, is a cookie that has surprised us from day one both with its flavor and texture as well as its ability to pair well with beer. This year our favorite beer we paired it with was pFriem Cognac which accentuated the rich butteryness of the cookie. For those who prefer to have that buttery quality tempered, we suggest going with Crooked Stave St. Bretta.

Thin Mints, one of the staples of the Girl Scout cookie line up, have typically been most successfully paired with stouts and that trend continued this year when paired with Left Hand Wake Up Dead Russian Imperial Stout. The boozy beer balanced nicely with the cookie's minty profile. Shortbreads were another cookie we'd paired often enough that we didn't dive too deep into that well but found Pelican Berried at Sea, especially once it had warmed, made for a nice companion.

Thanks to our Sunday Monger, David, for keeping an eye on us.

Saving the best for last, our picks for the top beers to pair with The Best Beer Cookie, the lemony, powdered sugar coated, crescent shaped Savannah Smiles.
- Pelican Berried at Sea, as mentioned above
- Evil Twin B is for Blueberry for a lighter version of the Berried at Sea pairing
- Little Beast Tree Spirit for a trip down the cherry lemonade path
- Baerlic What the Fluff's hoppiness for a pairing that brings out the lemon even further in the cookies
- Crooked Stave St. Bretta for the cookie to accentuate the lemon-citrus notes of the beer
- Falling Sky Juniper Rye for a surprising pairing where the cookie brought out the malty qualities in the beer and increased its drinkability (for our group)

Beer is tasty, beer is fun, beer is better with friends. We're already brainstorming on our next beer and [something] pairing. If you have ideas for what you'd like us to play with, leave it in the comments.

Pairing Savannah Smiles

I have to start off offering my apologies for having taken such a hiatus from the beer and Girl Scout cookies pairings. I hadn't intended that it would be quite so long but you know how it goes. Sometimes life just gets in the way of what you intended to do. As we resume there are two pairings remaining from the original five. We'll pick things up with Savannah Smiles, described as "crisp, zesty lemon wedge cookies dusted with powdered sugar."

The article suggested a pairing with The Bruery Saison de Lente. The bottle shop didn't have any the day I went to pick up beer so I made the executive decision to go with Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale. It's part of their Smokestack series, a series of beers that I've found to be head and shoulders above their other beers. This beer in particular was one that I've had in the past and was very pleasantly surprised with.

The cookies are essentially a light, lemony shortbread and the beer, very effervescent with a mild aroma and crisp, tropical fruit flavor. After a few bites and a few sips I realized that the profiles of the beer and the cookies were very, very similar, almost like the cookies were a slightly sweeter, solid form of the beer. This pairing would make a nice afternoon "tea party" type of treat. There's nothing heavy in either the beer or the cookies and it would be all too easy to eat a whole box while drinking a full 750 ml bottle of the beer.

Re-Pairing L'Amuse

If you read my last post you know that I wasn't happy with the pairing of L'Amuse Gouda and 10 Barrel Apocalypse IPA. Last night I decided to try a couple of different beer pairings with this lovely, delicious cheese.

Going along with the cicerone's suggestion of a saison I picked up Boulevard Tank 7 which was conveniently available in a petite 12 oz bottle. Searching my beer stash for a stout or imperial stout I came up with Founders Breakfast Stout.

Tank 7 poured with a huge head, tropical in aroma and even more tropical in flavor. My concern with the overall lightness of the beer paired with this assertive cheese was unfounded. The beer stood up well to the cheese, possibly due to the 8.5% ABV (although it drinks more like a 6%) and offered a wonderful sweet and salty pairing.

The Breakfast Stout offered up a great chocolate aroma, drank more boozy than the saison (although it's only 8.3% ABV) and greatly dampened the flavor of the cheese. While not as successful as the saison, it was still less discordant than the cheese than the IPA had been.

We also happened to have an open bottle of double IPA in the fridge, Lucid Camo, which we decided last minute to try with the cheese. As with the Breakfast Stout the Camo overpowered much of the flavor of the cheese yet not quite as much, putting it second out of the three beers in our home pairing.

With this pairing dilemna solved I can now enjoy the rest of this wedge of cheese. And I may be picking up some additional Tank 7.