5 Ways To Pair Girl Scout Cookies With Beer
By Chicagoist_Guest in Food on Mar 16, 2016 3:39PM
Photo via Shutterstock.
By Leigh Kunkel
It’s the time of year when small children bully fully-grown adults into buying boxes full of sugar, by which we mean it’s Girl Scout cookie season. But maybe eating a whole sleeve of Thin Mints in one sitting doesn’t make you feel very much like a grown-up. That’s okay, because Fountainhead and Barley’s Angels, a craft beer appreciation group for women, are doing Girl Scout cookies the adult way: by pairing them with beer. Tickets for the official pairing event are already sold out, but we had Kylie and Shannan Bunting, the founders of the Barley’s Angels Chicago chapter, give us their tips for how to recreate the ideal cookie-beer pairing at home.
The cookie: Do-Si-Dos, a.k.a. Peanut Butter Sandwiches
The beer: Sours. “Don’t be afraid to pair bold flavors with other bold flavors,” said the Buntings. “For example, the right sour (Destihl Counter ClockWeisse or one of Goose Island’s sour sisters, we like Halia) is a great complement to that Do-Si-Do!”
The cookie: Thin Mints
The beer: Stouts. “Pairing a dark stout with a chocolate-based cookie is the perfect combination. For example, try Begyle’s Imperial Pajamas with Thin Mints. The flavors come together to taste like you’re drinking the perfect Irish Coffee.”
The cookie: Savannah Smiles
The beer: IPAs or WPAs. According to the Buntings, “Hoppy beer generally carries strong citrus notes that can overwhelm some palates. Pair a flavorful but still approachable beer such as Stone Brewing’s Go To IPA or Forbidden Root’s Wildflower Pale Ale with Savannah Smiles. The sweet tang of the cookie really tames the bite of the hop and the bitterness of the beer mellows the sweetness of the lemony cookie allowing the taster to experience the best of both the cookie and the beer.”
The cookie: Trefoils, a.k.a. Shortbreads
The beer: Malty brews. “A beer with caramel malts and rich flavor (like Bell’s Two Hearted Ale or Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale) goes side-by-side with the flavors in Trefoils. The shortbread and biscuit-y flavors in the cookie highlight the biscuit and caramel flavors in the beer.”
The cookie: Samoas, a.k.a. Caramel deLites
The beer: Porters. “The chocolate and coconut in the Samoas (our favorite!!) pairs perfectly with a porter (try Revolution’s Eugene Porter or Wild Onion’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Drago),” the Buntings told us. “The rich dark flavors of these porters bring out the complexity of the cookie—the flavors bounce off each other and make each a little more intense.”