Beer Floats

Today was a Monday and it was wonderful! I managed to drag my ass out of bed and get to work by 8:00 am, which I think always alludes to the start of an amazing week.  It seems like if I get off to a bad start, then I am just completely screwed for the rest of the week, so I am looking forward to rising early all week.

I had planned to go to the movies after work, as there are three movies on my must-see agenda -- Buck, Horrible Bosses, and Larry Crowne.  I am pretty positive I will have friends who want to see Horrible Bosses, but the other two I think I will go to solo.  I actually enjoy going by myself, and I am looking forward to another delicious snack at The Flicks (where Buck is playing). However, I ended up not going to the movies because I got off work too late.  I have a habit of always allocating too much time to get anywhere in Boise, and even though I am aware of it, I still can't shake it.  I didn't want to be late or rushed to any movies, and I also had an exciting evening of bill paying and grocery shopping to take care of, so I decided to wait for another night.

It wasn't too hard of a decision as the Monday night TV line up is my very favorite. At 7 pm, Switched at Birth comes on.  It is a show about two teenage girls who were accidently switched at birth - one is deaf/poor and the other is rich/hearing.  It is about as cheesy as any show about high schoolers tends to be, but I love it.  After that, an even cheesier show comes on at 8 pm: Teen Wolf.  I am drawn to it like a train wreck.  It is interesting, exciting, and has plenty of juicy drama.  Also at 8 pm is the new season of Weeds.  I only have Showtime for about another month, so I am enjoying it while I can.  The best part is having my DVR -- I can start the line up around 7:30 and not have to watch commercials the entire time.

Considering my TV plans and the outlook for my night, I decided the perfect pairing would be a beer float.  I have been opening my freezer lately and longing for ice cream, but I try not to buy it.  It doesn't bode well with my veggie and herb stocked fridge and there are enough sweet treats to satisfy at work.  However, it was hot, I was wearing a sweater, and ice cream sounded wonderful.

Believe it or not, I actually bought coffee ice cream (me - the girl who "hates" coffee).  I found a beer float recipe (or more like inspiration as the recipe consisted of beer + ice cream) on Orangette.  She recommended a coffee ice cream with a porter-type beer, so I decided to go for it.

There was a "nice" man in the store, with his girlfriend.  He was definitely drunk or on some sort of drug, as he was a bit nuts but very friendly.  He began by wishing me a WONDERFUL DAY and of course I responded with a thank you.  He then began to intensely help me with the choice of my beer.  Whilst perusing my options, he also stopped to compliment a lady on her tattooswhile stroking her neck.  Thankfully she was more receptive to it than the poor boy who was mortified when the man took an interest in loudly remarking on his deep tan.  I was thanking my lucky stars when he decided I should get the same beer that I was considering.  I probably would have gotten what he had suggested no matter what, just because he was so exuberant.

The beer I got was Monkey Face Porter.  It is described as "a medium bodied robust porter with chocolate and black malt roast character." 

The Orangette recipe talks about approaching a beer float as more of an hot fudge sundae with a beer-as-fudge topping.  I knew I would drink the whole bottle of beer regardless of the amount of ice cream, so I decided to use more beer and less ice cream.  This was a mistake and Orangette was right!  After further review, I concur with her.  This would totally be even better with a majority of the drink ice cream and a minority beer.

To be honest, I didn't love my beer choice.  It was a little strong and too "beer-y" for me.  However, I have been trying things I don't like first try, multiple times, and I have a feeling the more familiar you get with something, the more you like it.  Therefore, I will continue to sample my six-pack, albeit next time it will be with more ice cream.

So the moral of this story is experiment with Orangette's recipe, just as I did.  If you are drinking a beer on a hot day, why not toss some ice cream in?  If you already like the beer, you really can't go wrong.  If you are trying a new beer, it won't ever be worse with ice cream.