I’m still trying to convince myself that this isn’t some delayed April Fool’s gag.
Ben and Jerry’s, it says here, is partnering with a Belgian company to produce beer.
It’s going to be Salted Caramel Brownie Brown Ale.
It’s also going to be 6.3% alcohol, which is almost twice the percentage that was legal in Utah for places that weren’t Private Clubs.
If this is for real, I’m curious how it’ll work out. Or maybe it will be a unique addition to the Ben and Jerry’s graveyard
Okay, the headline on that HuffPost article made me laugh out loud. I had to tell my coworkers the story. They were not impressed.
I, however, am. I’m generally a fan of New Belgium’s beer, and I’ll definitely give this a try.
I wouldn’t care if they were making burrito gravy - I wouldn’t buy a single thing from these progressive leftist hypocrites.
This sounds awesome.
I like beer and I like salted caramel. I bet they can make it work. They are awesome in everything else they do.
Well, I’ve [del]suffered through[/del]tried all the VooDoo Doughnut beers so far(and for the luvaghod, do not drink the Lemon Cruller unless you enjoy the lovely aftertaste of Lemon Pledge), so I suppose I’ll give these a shot and report on them after the fact…or have My Beloved give my report after the autopsy.
Ben & Jerry’s used to make beer ice cream back when they were starting out.
Similarly, VooDoo Donut has joined forces with Rogue brewing to produce several beers.
ETA: ninja-ed!
but I like the collaborations…
Googling “Ben and Jerrys” and “beer” turned up a lot of parallel news reports, but also this interesting piece from last summer:
Some of quotes are interesting, in light of the new announcement:
Bolding mine. Considering that the new beer flavor is supposed to be Salted Caramel Brownie Ale, it looks as if they might be trying to recapture the taste of last summer’s ice cream-beer float.
Here’s a report of Ben and Jerry’s Beer ice cream from 2006. That’s long after they started out:
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/Ben-amp-Jerry39s-Beer-Flavored-Ice-Cream-m194641.aspx
Although the link in that webpage doesn’t actually lead to a report of beer ice cream, I notice.
Better suited to Cafe Society. Off it goes!
Apparently they were flirting with beer-ice cream combos two years ago, as well
At the time, they reported on their experiments with beer-flavored ice cream.
I guess they decided it would work better (or people would be more likely to buy it) if they went the other way – ice cream-flavored beer instead of beer-flavored ice cream.
(I don’t know why this fascinates me – I eat Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream almost exclusively. And I hate beer)
Apparently another place beat Ben and Jerry’s to it, by three years. But they didn’t have the name recognition of B&J:
(from April 17, 2012)
Here’s the company website. Not only do they sell beer ice cream, but other alcoholic “adult” ice creams:
Ben and Jerry’s was sold to Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield have not been on the board or held management roles since 2000. Basically they are trotted out for photo ops with franchise owners every now and then. Feel free to eat up the only one profiting is a giant faceless corporation.
One of my yearly St Patrick’s Day rituals is a pint of Guinness with chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream added. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.
You can also find recipes online for Beer Ice Cream:
I like beer. I like ice cream. The thought of combining them disgusts me.
Breakside, an excellent brewery in Portland, has been making Salted Caramel Stout beer in collaboration with a local ice cream maker for over a year now. And unlike the god-awful Rogue/Voodoo Maple Bacon beer, this one is actually good. I’m not generally a fan of gimmick beers, but the flavors in this blend nicely.
Two tastes that (don’t) taste great together!
Just a note: New Belgian is not a Belgian brewery. They’re from (IIRC) Colorado and have a similar corpo-hippie vibe as Ben & Jerry’s, so it’s a pretty believable match.
There’s been a handful of dessery-style beers lately. The ones I’ve tried have generally been disappointing, either tasting like weak beer with a big dose of flavor syrup or strong beer with weird flavor notes. The closest I’ve found to one that I really think works is O’Fallon’s Cherry Chocolate beer, but I still don’t want more than a few of those a year.
Mea Culpa.
As I say, I don’t drink beer. Not even any from our copious microbreweries. Or Sam Adams.