Beer and Ice Cream for Dinner

Eating ice cream while drinking beer is always a good idea, which is surprising because the last thing I crave when I’m neck deep into some beer is dairy. And yet, give me a good scoop of chocolate side by side with a hoppy IPA and I’m in heaven. It’s an odd pairing (like when Madonna and Sean Penn were together), but it’s undeniably good (anyone else miss the days when Madonna and Sean Penn were together?). Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams understands the power of the ice cream/beer duo so much so that they’ve created an ice cream based on a specific beer—Stone Brewing Co.’s Mocha IPA. The flavor masterminds at Jeni’s used Stone’s IPA (which has some odd flavor combos all on its own) guide their hands to create Mocha Black Cherry Ice Cream.

Jeni’s sent us some ice cream and Stone sent us some beer, so we decided to knock back both in the same sitting. The result was delicious. The ice cream is heavy on the mocha, like I just swung through a Starbucks drive-thru in 1999, but really works well when you get a solid lacing of the cherry syrup onto the spoon to help balance out all that chocolate and coffee.

Stone’s Mocha IPA delivers on the name. It’s an imperial IPA (9%) brewed with cacao, coffee and milk sugar. Think of it as an IPA with a stout soul. It’s creamy and delicate, but has all this fruity hoppiness around the edges thanks to the Cascade, Citra and Amarillo hops. Damn I love Stone’s IPAs. They can do no wrong in my book.

Combine the ice cream with the beer and you have the makings of one of the best dinners you’ll ever have. Of course, Jeni’s and Stone weren’t the first to come up with this whole ice cream/beer combo thing. New Belgium has had a love affair with Ben and Jerry’s for a couple of years now, putting out ice cream-inspired beer and beer inspired ice-cream at a steady clip. Meanwhile, Frozen Pints is a company that is dedicated entirely to the art of beer-flavored ice cream. Hell, even Yuengling’s has an ice cream: Butterbeer.