I Scream, You Scream for Ice Cream (and Beer?)

Do you remember the first time you had a root beer float? Cool, creamy ice cream bathed in effervescent sugary liquid...the collision of two things you could probably never get enough of. We rarely drink soda/pop/root beer these days, instead preferring a pint of hop soda but decided to make a compromise, keeping the hop soda and adding ice cream. Could we be successful in balancing our inner child and our adult preferences?

The first order of business was to browse through the store freezers, which turned out to be packed with a lot more flavors than they were back when we were kids, and pick up some flavor standards as well as other things that just sounded good. Gathering at our favorite haunt, filled with plenty of beers to select from, we sat down for a sticky good time of pairing. While some pairings were no-brainers - stouts, light or heavy, with both chocolate and vanilla ice cream - we also came up with some more creative and interesting pairings that we quite enjoyed. Take a gander.

The two most successful "ice creams" were actually sorbets - Open Nature lemon and raspberry - with the raspberry slightly edging out the lemon as Best Pairing with Beer. From the light Saison Dupont to the hoppy Georgetown Lucille IPA to the big, boozy Founders KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) Bourbon Barrel Aged Chocolate Coffee Stout, these sorbets were a hit with the widest spectrum of beers. 

Talenti Sicilian Pistachio Gelato 
Pistachio ice cream surely existed when we were kids although it doesn't stand out as a top pick. Gelato is similar to ice cream and in this case the creaminess is complimented by the texture the pistachios. Whether the solid bits at the bottom of the glass are a bonus or a detraction is a personal matter. Intrigued by the possibility that this would be a flavor that wouldn't work well with any beer we found that in fact its nuttiness meshed well the hop profile of Georgetown Lucille IPA. So, too, did Culmination's take on a KBS-style beer, MCS (Multnomah County Stout).

Haagen-Dazs White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle
As the name implies, this is a rich, very sweet ice cream. Both Saison Dupont, a beer that we'd found to be a great pairing with Girl Scout cookies, and Wild Ride Tarty to the Party Peach Raspberry Sour helped to balance that sweetness. In addition, the subtle lemon in the Saison Dupont was enhanced when paired with the ice cream.

Tillamook Marionberry Cheesecake
Wild Ride Tarty to the Party Peach Raspberry Sour also paired well with this ice cream, with its tartness coming out at the beginning, the cream mellowing it mid-palate and the graham cracker crust bits adding a buttery finish to the experience. Founders big, bold KBS was our optimal dark beer with this ice cream.

Colombian Cold Brew Caramel
An intensely coffee flavored ice cream, it paired nicely with Pelican Tsunami Export Stout. The 7% stout is not of the sweet variety, instead being roasty. Paired with this ice cream, a slight, pleasant saltiness presents itself on the finish.

This type of pairing might not be for everyone but if you're feeling a bit adventurous, grab a pint from the freezer and a pint from the fridge, find a warm sunny place and indulge.

The Best Things We Drank: August 14 - 20

There were a considerable amount of mixed feelings as we reviewed our drinking and rating of the beers from last week. Why? Well, because in a rare turn of events, every beer that made the list is a beer that we've had a least once before (if not multiple times).

The internal dialogue went something like this:
"Really? We just had things (or at least good things) that we'd had before?!?."
"Are we really so fickle, so set on trying and finding new and great beers that we can't just enjoy and be happy with having had some past favorites?"
"It's ok to enjoy the same beers we had in the past because we DID quite enjoy them."

Perhaps some of you reading this understand the conversation we had with ourselves. Others may be questioning our judgment. Either way, here's what we had (again) and enjoyed.


Uinta Hop Nosh - Uinta's flagship IPA, the first time we had it (nearly six years if anyone's counting), we were impressed by its grapefruit and stank qualities. Since then we've relegated it to an any day or first beer of the day. Perhaps it's our taste buds. Perhaps the recipe has changed a bit.

Fort George 3-Way IPA - Far and away the highest rated of this week's list, pictured here at Church, we can't say enough good things about this fruit-forward, hazy IPA collaboration with Great Notion and Reuben's. We thought that the supply was nearly gone but have hear that another batch may be on its way this week. Please, please, pretty please let this be true!!

Georgetown Johnny Utah - Pale ales generally have a hard time competing with IPAs for us however this one, likely because of its pronounced grapefruit and pine flavors and minimal amount of maltiness, is a great go to.

Fire on the Mountain Wonderin' Rye - Four years ago this beer first graced our lips and since then we've always had it AT Fire on The Mountain (Burnside). It's basically our default beer when enjoying The Best Wings in Portland.

Culmination Choco Mountain Milk Stout - This sweet/milk stout rides the perfect balance between sweet and dry. Combined with its easy drinking 5.6% this is a stout for any time of the year and is a great adult chocolate milk beer, especially when it's served on nitro.

If there are any beers above that you haven't had, we definitely recommend trying them. For the most part they won't be too hard to track down and if you order one and don't like it, just give us a buzz and we'll come finish your pint for you.

Seattle: An Overdue Return

Our recent four-day trip to Seattle was long overdue. Not only hadn't we been there since moving to Portland over two years ago but we hadn't been there since our honeymoon, almost 10 years ago. It's not that we hadn't talked about going, we'd done plenty of that, but it was a matter of finally making plans and going. When a happy collision of scoring a free two-night stay at Hotel Monaco and realizing that the Vikings were playing at Seattle in early November occurred we decided to jump on it.

It wasn't designed to be a beer trip 100%, there was the football game to attend and the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center to see, but it wouldn't be a vacation for us without including beer, especially in a beer city like Seattle. It was the least planned trip we'd taken meaning there were some places we missed visiting because we hadn't taken into account their open hours but there was one very, very happy surprise we probably would have missed had we been on a completely planned out trip.

We kicked things off right away, walking just a couple blocks from the Amtrak train station over to Elysian. As is usually the case with beer brands we're familiar with there were their standard beers available as well as those limited, found-only-at-the-pub-or-nearby beers. All five we tried were excellent - Krokus, Omen, Humdinger, Maelstrom and Dark 'O The Moon.

After dropping our belongings off it was off to Georgetown Brewing. We made it within the last half an hour they were open and the place was hopping with people picking up growlers. We weren't interested in growlers but trying everything they had on tap which numbered nine. Lucille, the hoppiest of the bunch was the grapefruit hoppy that makes me most happy and DH369, made with last year's experimental hops now called Mosaic, was both fruity and stanky and very, very good. The biggest surprise of our time there came at the end when we tried to pay for the samples. Apparently samples, even all 10 of them, were free.

Venturing back out into the rain we made our way over to Schooner Exact, guided in at the end by the sandwich boards on the street reading, "BEER ----->." (As an aside, whenever you see these signs, follow them!) Bellying up to one of the shared tables we set about to another sampler tray. Again the hoppy one, Hop Vine, most tickled my fancy while Mag favored King Street Brown Ale, which I have to admit is probably the best brown ale I've had, due in large part to the hazelnut aspects.

That brings us to the end of our first of two beer focused outings in Seattle. Check back tomorrow to see what else we drank.