Macapuno Ice Cream/Coconut Porter Beer Float

Wow. Long time, no blog eh?

Although I've been in blog hibernation for the past few months, I've hardly been sleeping otherwise. I've been on the road and working like a dog (actually, I'm sure dogs don't work as hard as I've been working).

But as I've discovered, piloting Southern California's First Filipino food truck does have its perks, as well as provides much inspiration for blog posts (many of which I hope to cover here some time down the road).

For instance, a couple weekends ago I had the great opportunity to park The Manila Machine at the Los Angeles Beer Float Showdown II. Not only was I able to serve hungry bar flies some Filipino food, but I too was able to enjoy in the beer and ice cream festivities.

I Spy The Manila Machine

This year's Beer Float Showdown featured four teams/bars (Boneyard Bistro, Ladyface Alehouse, Simmzy’s and Tony’s Darts Away) that each created a single beer float. I was so inspired by the boozy ice cream floats that I decided to make my own Pinoy-ified beer float at home. But before I get to my own concoction, let's take a look at what went down at the L.A. Beer Float Showdown II.

Ladyface Alehouse Beer Float

The first beer float I tried that evening came from Ladyface Alehouse that featured a dark and choclatey Weizenbock, a scoop of cherry and chocolate ice cream, and topped with a porter reduction drizzle and a beer brittle. Although it was my first beer float of the night, I knew it would be one of my favorites overall.

Tony's Darts Away Beer Float

My second float of the night was the "Lime Surprise" courtesy of Tony's Darts Away. The Lime Surprise featured Eel River Brewing Co.'s Acai Berry Wheat beer with a scoop of housemade vegan lime sherbert. The tart lime sherbert paired very well with the wheat beer, definitely a very refreshing beer float.

Boneyard Bistro Beer Float

Next up on the docket was Boneyard Bistro's beer float of Floris Apple lambic beer with a scoop of Bourbon-salted caramel-cinnamon ice cream, and a green apple garnish coated with a caramel cinnamon crumble. Although Boneyard Bistro's beer float was deemed as the winner of the night as voted by all the attendees of the Beer Float Showdown, it wasn't my favorite (shows how much I know).

Simmzy's Beer Float

My favorite beer float of the night came from Simmzy's Pub and featured a cherry lambic kriek beer, brown sugar and cherry ice cream, and a snickerdoodle cookie garnish. It was like drinking a cherry pie, but in a good way, a very good way.

Ok, so with all the beer float goodness I was privy to that night, I decided to try my own hand at concocting a beer and ice cream treat at home. I ended up pairing one of my favorite porters (Maui Brewing Co.'s Coconut Porter) with one of my favorite Filipino ice cream flavors--Macapuno Ice Cream.

I love the coconut porter because while it does taste of toasted coconut, it's only a faint hint of coconut that doesn't overpower the rest of the porter's flavors (i.e. smoky chocolatey malts, coffee, caramel, mmmm.). And while I've made my own Macapuno Ice Cream in the past, I don't exactly have all the time in the world these days. So I went ahead and used Fosselman's Macapuno Ice Cream--the next best thing to homemade.

To make any beer float, certain steps must be made in order to prevent disastrous overflowing and bubbling over.

Step 1: Fill beer glass halfway with beer,
and wait till head subsides.

Step 2: Gently place 1-2 scoops of ice cream into beer glass.

Step 3: Slowly pour in the rest of the beer,
and insert spoon and festive straw. Enjoy.

So how did my Macapuno Ice Cream/Coconut Porter beer float taste? In my opinion, it's an awesome coconut pairing. While it's definitely coconutty goodness in a glass, the more complex chocolate, smoke, and coffee flavors of the beer are still at play.

I've already made three of these floats in the past few days and I only have one can of porter left. I think I'll go for my fourth float now.

Comments

[Jikuu]

Hey there! So good to hear from you. Good to know that the truck's doing well. I'd never thought of a beer float before despite having lots of the kid-friendly variety. How does the sweetness of the ice cream go well with the bitterness of the porter? I thought that would just exaggerate the bitterness. Thanks!

[joey]

Glad to hear everything is going swimmingly with the Manila Machine! Great beer float too :)

[BurntLumpia]

Hey Jikuu. The sweetness of the ice cream goes very well with the porter's slight bitterness. If you're hesitant of trying the beer float, just have the ice cream on the side as a regular beer pairing and see how the flavors meld that way. Then, plop some scoops of the ice cream into the porter if you like what you taste.

Hey joey! It's been too long! Thanks for stopping by.

[caninecologne]

very cool!!! i like the use of garnishes for those beer floats too.

my husband and i made our own beer floats after tasting a version up in portland last year. they used rogue chocolate stout (a brewery in oregon) with chocolate ice cream. i don't even like beer, but i liked the chocolate beer float!

[Ali @ Three Baking Sheets]

Man. All of those floats sound ridiculous. I'm going to have to recreate them at home.

Unfortunately, we can't get the coconut porter (any of the Maui Brewing stuff, actually) so that's a bummer. I've heard wondrous things about that beer. Beeeeg porter fan here.

[stephen]

different floats with variety of taste lol I guess I would love this=)

[Lannie Lutz]

Hi. I was really surprised you can make ice cream float with Coconut Porter. I sent my daughter a link to your website. She is a brewer for Maui Brewery. May I recommend another beer that she formulated, Le Perouse Belgian Wheat beer. It placed silver at Great Beer Fest in Colorado. Really good beer. By the way she is half Filipino.