![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Salt-and-Straw_0334.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>Salt & Straw has since collaborated with both breweries, but in marrying his ice cream with their beers, Malek went in two completely different directions. Recognizing the intense flavors in Belching Beaver\u2019s Peanut Butter Milk Stout, he looked to amplify them even more by steeping the beer in the grains that make up its specialty malt bill, then adding more cocoa character care of salty, chocolate-dipped fried pork rinds. And after tasting the layered flavors of Modern Times\u2019 Thermometer Island, a red wine barrel-aged saison flavored with Cara Cara and blood oranges, Malek felt inspired to replicate those flavors in sherbet form. Tools for that project included blood orange juice, rosewater, hops, ice cream made from a combination of coconut cream and cashew milk, plus the beer itself.<\/p>\n
Already, this isn\u2019t your everyday ice cream stop, and Malek has even more in store for beer-loving patrons (as soon as he acquires a liquor license for the Little Italy store): beer-and-ice-cream floats. The concept is not new to our area, but Malek\u2019s expertise and attention to detail with this niche delicacy certainly are. He is currently working on a Salt & Straw cookbook and recently finished a chapter all about incorporating beer, including doing so with floats. The following are some key tips he was happy to share ahead of the book’s release later this year.<\/p>\n
Over the course of seven years in the frozen dessert biz, Malek has found that four ounces of ice cream to ten ounces of beer is the magic ratio. He realizes most beer is packaged in 12- or 16-ounce servings and considers the leftover a happy bonus for the float maker.<\/p>\n Instead of a dense, packed scoop like one would find atop a cone, Malek prefers to lightly skim the top of a fresh pint or carton of ice cream to get what he calls a \u201chollow scoop.\u201d That’s the kind you typically see on television commercials where a thin ribbon rolls over itself into a cylinder of sorts. This allows for better integration with the liquid in the glass.<\/p>\n Malek says much of Salt & Straw\u2019s success with beer and ice cream pairing is that they can customize the latter, but when trying to find over-the-counter ice cream to pair with beer, he is particularly cognizant of hops, which match up well with sugar, but not with fat.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget about sherbets (frozen fruit juice combined with milk or cream) and sorbets (frozen fruit juice). Malek says funky farmhouse ales and sour fermentations go exceptionally well with these lower-fat desserts. When creating a grapefruit sherbet with Myrtle, a citrus saison from The Commons, he said he couldn\u2019t tell where the sorbet stopped and the beer began. In other words, it was the perfect pairing.<\/p>\n As with any pairing medium, surprises abound. Sometimes combining items that don\u2019t sound like they\u2019ll work yields surprisingly delicious results. Case in point: Logsdon Farmhouse Ales\u2019 Seizoen Bretta, a champagne-like saison bottle-conditioned with pear juice that Malek combined with\u2026sweet cream and chocolate fudge? It sounds crazy, but the bubble gum and prickly pear nature of the low acid beer worked well with similarly low acid, locally-roasted chocolate, proving that you just never know.<\/p>\n Not everything has to be a foray into uncharted culinary territory. Sometimes going with an obvious pairing is the best option. At the end of the day, good old fashioned vanilla ice cream is as versatile as the day is long, and good enough to be a go-with for the Salted Caramel Stout that Malek and company brew annually with their fellow Portlandians at Breakside Brewery.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a lot of advice, and while there are some hard-fast tips to take to the bank (or the ice-cream aisle), like any mode of pairing, it will require a little trial\u2026and maybe even some error. My recommendation is to start with a pint of the ice cream you\u2019d like to use in your float, then select two or three beers you\u2019d like to try it with. Take small glasses, scoop an ounce of the ice cream into each, then pour a little under three ounces of beer into each glass, wait a few minutes, then taste each to find which you like best. Once you\u2019ve identified the ideal matchup, go with a full serving (and don\u2019t forget to enjoy all that happy bonus beer).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Talking to Tyler Malek is a lot like talking to a brewer. He may be an ice cream baron, but his nth-degree devotion to the artisanal consumables he produces, and celebratory respect for local craftspeople, is right up there with similar ideals held by members of San Diego\u2019s brewing community. I first sought out Malek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4906,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plates-and-pints","8":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","9":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/WizBangBar_BeerFloat_8437_creditCarlyDiaz-e1525561122541.jpg?fit=1021%2C632&ssl=1","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-5jf","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\nA Little Bit of This, A Little Bit (More) of That:<\/h3>\n
The Perfect Scoop:<\/h3>\n
Hop Interaction:<\/h3>\n
Using the Whole Freezer Aisle:<\/h3>\n
Think Outside the Carton:<\/h3>\n
<\/a>But Don\u2019t Be Afraid to Keep It Simple:<\/h3>\n