There's a beer for that!

I got these at work. Had to try them. Damn good cookies! Awesome chunky deep chocolate flavor enhanced by the sea salt that somehow worked with the rustic texture, with a bit of coconut-iness and something about it that gave me the impression that there's peanut butter in it but there isn't. Would the coconut do that? Maybe it's just because I've been feeding the dog so much peanut butter that I can't get it off my mind.

Immediately after the first bite I thought, I have to find a beer to go with this. It struck me that a Porter would work -- I went through a phase of Porter-chocolate pairings starting with the Lake Champlain 5-Star peanut bar and the gosh-I-can't-remember-what-it-was Porter (I'll have to look for it on Twitpic) -- but of course I had to ask the beer guy at Marty's. The first thing he asked me was if I wanted to go with a complementing or contrasting pairing.

I love the beer guy at Marty's.

I went with contrasting. He recommended that I try the Oud Beersel Framboise Belgian lambic. At $10 it was pricier than I wanted for 12.7 ounces 5% ABV (I think I'm starting to value my beers at dollars-per-unit-alcohol) and I didn't love it enough to buy it again but I'd sure drink it again if offered. Sour is the one flavor in beer that I'm not so sure about. I've never been head-over for a sour. In this one the raspberry had more a sour cherry note to it, which I liked a lot, and the texture wasn't too thin and I liked the carbonation level.

As a pairing for the cookie, though, it was a total fail. The disconnect was the texture -- The oats were far too rustic for the lambic, which would have gone brilliantly with a flight of chocolates or cheeses and probably would have made me think much more highly of the beer. I picked up a Three Philosophers (Brewery Ommegang) at Trader Joe's that I want to give a try as a pairing for the Salty Oats but the 9.8% ABV bomber was far too much inebriation for one evening and I'm working a stretch of 4 nights in a row which is too long to cork & keep in the fridge. I'll get to it eventually. If that pairing doesn't work I'll go with my Porter instinct.

Once again, I have to take a moment to thank the genetic line that enables me to eat and drink constantly and still maintain an impressive BMI. And let's not forget the dog that walks me three hours a day (got an extra hour in this morning when she took off chasing coyotes).

Cheers!