PORTLAND, Ore. — In a city that loves beer and ice cream, the two will now be closer than ever. Starting Friday, Salt & Straw Ice Cream will be serving one-of-a-kind beer-flavored ice creams made with popular brews from West Coast breweries, including Portland's Breakside Brewery.
Five beer flavors will be added to Salt & Straw's rotating menu, as well as available for shipping nationwide: Breakside's Barrel-Aged Chocolate Stout; Seattle-based Métier's Black Stripe Porter and Bread Pudding; and California-based Russian River’s Supplication Ale with Manchego and Monkish's Space Cookies and Cream Hazy IPA. A brewery from Miami is also featured with La Tropical's La Original Lager with Guava.
Tyler Malek, Salt & Straw's cofounder and head ice cream maker, said figuring out how to create a successful beer ice cream has become one of his "favorite ice cream-making puzzles.”
“Beer is delicious, but its flavor just isn’t concentrated enough to stand up to the ice cream’s high fat content," Malek said. "And if you try to cook off some of the water in order to intensify the flavor, you distort the character of the very beer you were trying to feature in the first place."
He added that instead, the puzzle is figuring how to deconstruct each beer and "put it back together in sweet, creamy form so the brewer’s original creation is accurately reflected in each scoop."
Salt & Straw will also be featuring its Brewer's Series at Portland's Beer Week, between June 15-23, at beer events across the city, including an opportunity for people to "Make Your Own IPA Ice Cream."
Portland Beer Week's Salt & Straw events include:
- Saturday, June 15 from 11 a.m.-12 p.m.: Make Your Own IPA Ice Cream with Salt & Straw's Head Ice Cream Maker Tyler Malek and Breakside's Head Brewer Ben Edmunds at Breakside's Dekum location (820 NE Dekum St, Portland).
- Saturday, June 15: Breakside’s Woodlawn Block Party at Breakside Dekum
- Sunday, June 18 from 1-3 p.m. at Loyal Legion: "SNACKDOWN VI: SNACKING NEVER DIES!" Salt & Straw teams up with Breakside Brewing in serving a one-of-a-kind beer-infused push pop parfait.
- Sunday, June 23: Salt & Straw will be serving its Russian River’s Supplication Sour Brown Ale with Manchego ice cream at the Portland Beer and Cheese Festival.
