There's nothing terribly original about pouring beer over ice cream; if nothing else, root beer keeps us reminded of that tradition. I've been lazy with my beer and ice cream pairings — who isn't? — and so it wasn't until recently when a guest brought over a bottle of super-sweet Framboise Lambic, a raspberry beer of sorts, that I gave some serious thought to pouring boozy brews over ice cream.
So while the dinner guests were mixing their crimson red beer with Prosecco, I fell into a lambic float daydream.
Lambic is a Belgian relative of beer, but not exactly a close sibling. It is made in open vats where things are allowed to go wild. The result is a cloudy beer, only mildly carbonated and with a sour taste. Many lambics are brewed with fruit, bringing in sweetness to balance out the sourdough-like flavor.
The most widely available brand of lambic is Lindemans. They make a cherry (Kriek), raspberry (Framboise), apple (Pomme), black currant (Cassis), and peach (Pêche) lambic. All are great over a scoop or two of vanilla (or other) ice cream, but my favorite is the cherry, and that was dessert last night. Perfect for a hot summer evening. I'm sure it's not bad in cooler seasons either.
Lambic Float
serves one
1-2 scoops vanilla ice cream
4 fluid ounces (1/2 cup) lambic
Place a scoop or two of ice cream in a glass. Top with the lambic. Serve immediately with a spoon.
Related:
• What is Lambic Beer?
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Yum. I have a bottle of the peach lambic chilling in the fridge right now. It's the perfect summer drink. Fizzy and fruity and with a low alcohol content that doesn't put me to sleep. I saw the "kriek" lambic at the store and didn't know what it was. I'll have to try it.
I bet this would be even better made with a true lambic--I'm pretty sure Lindemans is made with artificial flavors and sweeteners. (Which is why Whole Foods recently pulled it from their shelves.)
Other good fruit beers to try include Cascade Brewing's sours. They've recently expanded distribution quite a lot.
I had a GREAT float at the Sugar Cube food cart in Portland: Morello cherry puree mixed with ginger ale, and home-made tahitian vanilla ice cream. Yum!
This post was a plate of shrimp moment for me. A friend introduced me to the Peach Lambic this weekend, and i pick up a couple of bottles of the raspberry for us today on my lunch hour. I may use the raspberry in floats instead of drinking it!
maggie (p/c) -- according to the Wegman's website, the ingredients for the Lindemans raspberry lambic are as follows:
Water, Barley-Malt, Wheat, Hops, Yeast and Fresh Raspberries
No artificial flavors or ingredients.
Wow! I've never heard of this. Definitely going to so some research! The only way I've used booze with ice cream is to pour Orange liqueur over Vanilla Ice Cream for an adult version of the dream cycle!
I'm not a beer drinker, lbut ove prosecco over sorbet - a big hit with my knitting friends. As a kid, my favorite was Coke over chocolate ice cream.
Just relaying what the Whole Foods clerk told me when I commented on their new absence from the shelves.
Delightfully refreshing... posted it to my facebook.
Sweet,
Penelope
I'm not sure if it's available in the U.S. or not, but one of my favourite treats is a vanilla float made with Nickel Brook Apple Pilsner from Better Bitters Brewing Co. I'll have to branch out and try the Cherry!
I will so try this! Another rendition is to use a yummy stout like Lagunita's Cappucino Stout (yearly edition) for a rich and frothy float.
Also, the glass used for the Lambic float is perfect for the pairing! For more French 'Amelie' glass colors and sizes: http://bit.ly/amelieglass
Sounds delicious, and I love the last photo!
Thought this was going to be a post about Jeni's Ice Cream! Cherry Lambic Sorbet.. Mmm... But this sounds fantastic, too!
Just heard about this on The Splendid Table on Sunday and thought it sounded fantastic! Yum!
Oh my. This is one of my favorite things to drink. Thanks for giving my addiction to Lambic another reason.
@truenb - what was Splendid Table talking about on Sunday? Lambic in general or Lambic with ice cream?
@pomme that Jeni's stuff is incredible. Faith and I share an obsession!
I love Lambics (though hate they always come in those smallish wine bottles and I don't want to share!) This is a great idea. Surprised more people haven't thought of it. Thanks!
splendid table talked about Lambic over cardamom ice cream--make your own by softening vanilla ice cream and mixing in toasted cardamom seeds. I'd probably top with a vanilla bean and honey sour cherry compote. Yep. that's probably what I'd do.
My favorite lambics are from Cantillon, but their bottles tend to be hard to find in the US and are very pricey. If lambics are too sour for you, geuze style beers that are usually mixtures of new and aged lambics, then aged in barrels for a few years are usually mellower on the sour.
At Sugar Cafe in San Francisco, I had a few bites of my friend's Raspberry Lambic Float with chocolate ice cream and it was fantastic.
I've seen Lindemans Lambic at Trader Joe's.
@maggie (p/c) The list of ingredients say "barley, unmalted wheat, wild yeast, black cherries, aged in oak" so I'd be pretty surprised if there were also artificial flavors and sweeteners in there. I think we're going to do some investigating. It could be another flavor perhaps?
YUM! I just finished our supply of Lambic's so I have the perfect reason to get more. I also recently discovered that Samuel Smith's puts out some lovely fruit ales.
I'd like to know more info if Lindemans is using artificial ingredients.
Huh! Never heard of this ... will have to give it a try!
Lambic and ice cream is one of our favorite desserts for guests. We love peach with vanilla, but chocolate with raspberry is great too.
We heard about this several years ago at a Whole Foods cooking demo.
jmorri26- they come in 12 oz and 25oz bottles.
I made saffron honey ice cream a while ago and it came out super saffron-ey. I ended up making floats with it using cherry lambic. It was delicious and a perfect combination!!
I must try this over the weekend.
And what a waste of prosecco!
I have never seen lambic combined with ice cream here in Belgium, but I am going to try it.
Take a look at the Lindemans page on their brewing process:
http://www.lindemans.be/start/lambik/en
For the Kriek, it looks like they use actual cherries (when available, or cherry pulp when not), with some cherry juice to adjust the sweet/sour balance at the end.
The other lambics use a straight fruit juice method.
We'll do some more poking around here at the Kitchn and see if we can get more info on that juice method and see if it uses syrups or sweeteners.
Once again time spent surfing the web is educational. I have never heard of lambics, but if it goes with ice cream, I'm checking it out!
Shocked, just shocked that a Whole Foods clerk could possibly be wrong. The horror!
Youngs' Double Chocolate Stout over coffee ice cream is Fabulous!!!
Lindemans is not a traditional lambic, it is backsweetened with a great deal of sugar syrups after it is brewed
A traditional lambic is quite sour (think warheads) and can have many other funky flavors, lindemans is quite one dimensional, and is essentially slightly alcoholic fruit soda