I know, I know.. I come off as a pretty hard core Beau's fan but it's because I have a lot of good memories associated with Beau's - my first craft beer, my first brewery tour, my first craft beer festival, even my first keg purchase! I'm super loyal not just for the yummy beer but because I want the company that introduced me to this awesome world of craft beer to grow and introduce others.
I usually enjoy most Beau's releases but something strange happened when I took a sip of Burnt Rock, the latest in their Pro-Am series, I didn't like it. My world starting spiralling out of control; up was down, down was up..! I'm being a bit melodramatic but it was a surprising disappointment. Everyone's palates are different though and while Burnt Rock received favourable reviews the overwhelming vanilla aroma and cloying sweetness was too much for me. So..
When life gives you beer you don't like, make beer floats!
This won't work with every beer you dislike (don't start sticking ice cream in light macro lagers) but the lingering coffee and cocoa flavours in Burnt Rock gave me a hunch that it would. I used a few scoops of Pascale's All Natural Dulce de Leche ice cream and poured the vanilla porter slowly over top. The ice cream mellowed the vanilla flavour and highlighted the coffee notes making it taste like a decadent iced coffee with caramel drizzle.
