Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Beer Float

Two posts in one week?  Yes, I know, I’m shocked too.

As we discussed earlier in the week, it is Abita Strawberry Lager Season!  My favorite seasonal in their repertoire by far.  It’s light and refreshing and just slightly fruity, but not overly sweet. 

And the other day, as I found myself bogged down in paperwork for the ice cream shoppe, I knew I needed something.  More than just a beer.  Something fun.  And seeing as how we now have ice cream on the brain p.much 24/7, thinking of a way to make beer more fun wasn’t difficult:

Yes, it was time for another beer float!

In an ideal situation, you would probably use strawberry ice cream for something like this.  But we had Yoplait Greek Strawberry Frozen Yogurt in our freezer, which I had previously been using to make some rather yummy ice cream cookie sammiches:

Ingredients:

Strawberry froyo or ice cream (the sweeter the better—it cuts the acidity of the beer)

Abita Strawberry Lager

 

Directions:

Easy-peasy, as always.  Ice cream goes in the glass, beer goes on top.

Add a straw and BAM, you’re done.  Kick back on your patio & enjoy.

Or, finish your paperwork, ya bum.  That inventory isn’t going to type itself, now is it???

Thirsty Thursday: Pumpkin Beer Float!

Pumpkin beer.  It’s a passion I have.  Which makes this one of my favorite times of year.  I get to pick up mixed 6 packs and be a beer critic for a few months.  There’s a delicate balance to be found.  I should be able to taste all the typical “pumpkin pie” flavors…not just cloves.  Some brewers out there just hit WAY too heavy on the cloves.  If I wanted clove beer, I’d buy clove beer…but no, I bought PUMPKIN beer. 

Two of my favorite pumpkin beers are from right here in Missouri.  One is the O’Fallon Pumpkin Ale, which we featured in a Thirsty Thursday two weeks ago.  The other is made right here in Springfield, at Mother’s Brewing Company: Mr. Pumpkin.

Delicious, delicious brew, and fantastic label art to boot.

So here we are, with delicious cinnamony holiday ice cream in the house, and a bottle of Mr. Pumpkin.  What’s a girl to do?

BEER FLOAT.  That’s what we do.

 

Ingredients:

1 pint glass

2 scoops holiday ice cream (if you haven’t made this ice cream yet, and don’t have time to, not to worry.  Pick up a pint of something like the pumpkin spice ice cream at Starbucks or a freshly made pint of either cinnamon or pumpkin from your local gelato or froyo joint)

1 bottle Mr. Pumpkin (or other, inferior pumpkin beer…)  ;D

Two straws

 

Directions:

Pretty simple.  Ice cream goes into the glass.  Beer goes over that.

Add two straws, and share with your favorite someone.

Pumpkin spice added over the top, ‘cuz weez fancy like dat.

Thirsty Thursday: Homemade Lime Sorbet, for Corona Beer Floats

As promised!

This weekend, one of our friends is hosting a “Trashy Cinco De Mayo” party.  I fought my pun-ish urge to create some sort of dish that featured mayo (seriously…it was tough) and decided that I will be bringing a Hamburger Helper & Tater Tot casserole.  Because nothin’ sez trashy like processed frozen potatoes on top of processed boxed dinner inside a 9x13 pan with CHEEEEESE. 

I’ll provide pics after the party.

But the Turbodog beer float last week inspired me to also make a slightly trashy cocktail that’s a bit “cinco de mayo-y”.  I mean, come on.  “Beer Float” sounds pretty trashy, amiright?
So the natural choice is the classic “bottom of the top shelf beers” —a tasty, ice cold Corona. (No Corona Light…that stuff’s just NASTY.)
To pair, I contemplated lime sherbet…but the dairy component of store-bought sherbet just left me icked out & shuddering.
The Hubs has an ice cream maker though…and this Pinterest-found recipe for lime sorbet sounded too tasty & easy to resist. So here we go!

Ingredients:
Zest of 4 limes
Juice & pulp of 8 limes
Simple Syrup (1 cup water + 1.25 cup sugar, heat & stir until completely dissolved, bring to boil, then let cool)
1 cup cold water
2 tbsp gin or vodka (this is optional, but if you add it, the result is a much smoother sorbet.  The alcohol prevents the sorbet from getting rock hard, so it’s easier to scoop & serve)
Green food coloring (also optional)

Directions:
First and foremost—freeze the bowl compartment for your ice cream maker.  Very important.  Unless you have some sort of fancy ice cream maker that doesn’t require this step.  In which case, I’m jealous.
While your simple syrup is cooking, zest your limes, and enlist the help of your handsome hubby to start juicing them as well.

(Mmm…limes…)

Once you have all your zest and the syrup is done, add the zest into the syrup to infuse the flavor a bit. 
Then add the juice (and the pulp that’s in the juicer) to the pot as well.  Add the cup of cold water, and the (optional) gin or vodka.  Stir well, and then place the pot or bowl into your fridge until it’s completely cooled (we left it in there overnight).


I wasn’t 100% pleased with the color, and since the end product in the recipe I was using came out almost white, I wanted to make sure that ours was going to have a green tinge to it, for presentation.  So of course… I added food coloring!!!  (Nothing says “trashy” like Yellow 5 and Blue Lake 40!)

One drop should suffice.

(After adding the food coloring, for comparison.)

Now, get out your ice cream maker.  Once your sorbet mix is totally cooled, you can get the bowl compartment out of the freezer.  Reassemble your machine, plug in, turn on.
Now start adding your sorbet mix into the machine.

(Churn, baby churn!)

Let the all-powerful magic frozen treat maker machine do its work, and about 15-20 minutes later, you have THIS:

It might still be a little soupy in places, depending on the awesomeness of your ice cream maker.  So scrape out the machine into an airtight container & place in the freezer until ready to serve.

For a float:

1/2 cup (one standard ice cream scoop) sorbet + 1 beer = AWESOME.

 

(Half-size version shown for presentation—I used a melon baller to make the small scoops.)

NutriFacts: (per float)
Calories 259.4
  Total Fat 0.0 g
  Saturated Fat 0.0 g
  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
  Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
  Cholesterol 0.0 mg
  Sodium 26.0 mg
  Potassium 45.0 mg
  Total Carbohydrate 41.2 g
  Dietary Fiber 1.7 g
  Sugars 25.6 g
  Protein 1.7 g
  Vitamin C 19.0 %



One 1/2 cup scoop of sorbet by itself?   115 calories.  SOOOO yummy & refreshing.  Like the frozen lemonades/limeades you get at theme parks or baseball games.

Can’t wait for this party!

What are YOU doing for Cinco de Mayo?