Beershakes: A Gourmand Adventure
Posted by CMH Gourmand on December 29, 2008
Hanging out with me can be fun, it can be dangerous. On occasion I get something in my head and won’t let go or I see something and wonder….what if?
This happened when I was down in Athens for dinner a few weeks ago. I dropped in at Jackie O’s Pub looking for a gift for my friend Bear. He is a fan of Jackie O’s oak-aged beers – they have one on special most of the time. I sampled what they had on tap – tart cherry aged 4 months in an oak barrel – good, but a bit too sweet. Then I thought about some beershakes I concocted at a Drink with the Wench Night early in aught eight. Could this beer mix in a shake?
OK – when I say beershakes people get scared, maybe a bit disgusted. Well, with the right beer and the right ice cream it works.
So here is what happened:
Step 1: Get ice cream from Denise’s.
Vanilla, a standard
Carrot Cake – my favorite (for eating – not for beershaking)
Mint Hot Chocolate
Step 2: Get Beer
The aforementioned Jackie O’s. Time was of the essense, the beer is not pasteurized, so there is a limited window of drinkability. I bought a 64 ounce growler and I needed immediate help with the consumption.
Southern Tier Choklat Stout
Step 3: Take beer and ice cream, dump in blender, blend.
Step 4: Drink, evaluate the results.
Combo 1 – Choklat Stout with Mint Hot Chocolate. This could have been good. However, the hot in the Mint Hot Chocolate was cayenne pepper. As Bear said…”oh my”. This combo will not be repeated.
Combo 2 – Aged Tart Cherry Beer with vanilla ice cream. As MC Hammer would say, “Proper”. This was tasty. I redeemed my beershakery with my focus group.
Step 5: Eat Carrot Cake ice cream while pondering the results.
(I have made similar shakes using Bailey’s and Kulua with excellent outcomes.)
(PS – This little adventure inspired Root Beer floats with Marietta Brewing Company Root Beer and Jeni’s Ugandan Vanilla Bean ice cream a few nights later. Ice cream fills my belly and warms my heart in any form.)
CMH Gourmand - Eating in Columbus & Ohio 
The Fighting Librarian said
Those Root Beer floats were amazing– three cheers for Marietta Brewing Company+Jeni’s and the mastermind who mixed them.
lanibug said
Barley’s Smokehouse used to have a bartender many ages ago that would do the same with their porters — yum!!! but it must be done with the proper beer and ice cream —