Sundae Night Suds - Ben & Jerry's Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale

This week's SNS turns into a Sundae Night Suds in reviewing a collaborative effort between Ben & Jerry's and New Belgium which produced two products - Ben & Jerry's New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale and New Belgium Salted Caramel Brown-ie Ale.

I first read about these products in December when I was reading about new beers from New Belgium and learned that one of my favorite breweries and an old time favorite ice cream company had cross-pollinated and come out with an ice cream with beer influences and a beer with ice cream infusions. I did not have too much difficulty locating the Ben & Jerry's in my local King Kullen (not coincidentally located across the street from one of my favorite beer stores - Beverage Barn of Garden City Park). However, the New Belgium was impossible to score as they do not sell in the NY Metro area. I had held  out hope that I might make it to Chicago (or another venue which sells NB) before Pesach so that I could taste the NB product and do a blog post which reviewed the beer and ice cream in the same post. As it now appears that it will not be the case, I am resigned to just reviewing the Ben & Jerry's product.

So with that introduction lets get rid of the first misconception - the ice cream is not alcoholic and unlike some wine infused ice creams (none of which are kosher anyway) there is no age requirement for purchasing the ice cream. Secondly, while the ice cream has a hint of beer - its not really in the way of an ale - at most it tastes like a light lager. While this is not a terrible thing, I feel that an ice cream made with a stout or even a full bodied ale would give more flavor to an exotic ice cream.

The ice cream itself is sweet and I can't have more than a few spoonfuls at a sitting as the rich and sweet flavor is overwhelming. However, there are some nice pieces of brownie and caramel which when eaten together evoke a sweet and salty flavor with a little bit of lager backbone.

Since this is an ice cream you won't find a review on Beer Advocate, nor can I disclose the abv as it does not indicate that there is any alcohol content on the label. It is certified kosher by the Kof-K as are many of the Ben & Jerry's products.

I anticipate that this will be the last SNS for April as next Sunday is Yom Tov. I wish everyone a Chag Kasher V'Sameach.

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