Beer and ice cream? D.C. restaurant launches beer floats

Thank you Nataliya for showing me this little gem:

Beer or ice cream? At Georgetown restaurant Thunder Burger and Bar, diners no longer have to choose.

Every week the gourmet burger joint is serving up "beer floats," which pairs one of the restaurant's craft beers with a scoop of ice cream.

"We found that adding ice cream to the beer, it matches the flavors and enhances the flavors of the beer," says Chef Ryan Fichter.

This week, Thunder Burger is offering two different versions: the Heavy Seas "Prosit!" Imperial Oktoberfest paired with vanilla ice cream and the Sierra Nevada Porter with a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

The idea of pairing beer with ice cream came to Fichter, as he revamps the restaurant's dessert menu.

"We figured since we have a focus on different craft beers, why not showcase those and utilize those in our dessert menu," he says. "We didn't want to do milkshakes because that's kind of being done to death."

"We started playing around with it and found some pretty good flavor combinations."

The beer floats appear on the menu as a daily special, but will eventually become a part of the regular dessert menu.

Over Labor Day weekend, Fichter served up their Abita Honey Rye Ale with vanilla ice cream and the Breckenridge Brewery Imperial Chocolate Cream Stout with chocolate ice cream.

"We found that lagers, different ales and certain IPAs work very well," Fichter says.

He says he's taste-testing new pairings for the future, which may include something with a cinnamon ice cream float and of course, pumpkin ice cream with some of the seasonal pumpkin beers.

The beer floats vary in price from $6 to $9 depending on the beer. It is served in a large snifter glass so diners still get the beer aroma and the glass is large enough to get a few spoons in there.

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