Session #30: Beer Desserts

It’s that time of the month again, the first Friday, meaning time for The Session. This month the topic is a little different as it seems to revolve more around food than the actual beer. Regardless, I’m a trooper and down for the cause. For a full rundown of this month’s Session, make sure to visit Beer 47. So with no further delay, I am headed to the kitchen to prepare some beer desserts. 

When I started thinking about this idea, one beer jumped to mind immediately, North Coast’s Old Rasputin. As fortune would have it, this year they were backed by real distribution and I was able to get a hold of the Anniversary ale Rasputin XII. The Seasion is a special occasion, so a special beer was in order.

With the beer picked out, the next decision was what to make. I looked through some books, but felt like brownies or chocolate cake would be an easy way out. I considered Sean Paxton’s pudding recipe from Lucy Saunder’s Beer & Food but I realized one of the things that makes Sean such a great chef is the use of great ingredients. This would have to be something simple. The solution, Rasputin chocolate sauce. (Yes, I realize this is actually an easier way out than brownies and cake, but I’m over it.)

Below is my simple recipe that even you can follow:

• 5 squares of 60% Bittersweet Chocolate
• 3 ounces of granulated sugar
• 4 ounces of Old Rasputin XII

I melted the chocolate in a glass bowl over a boiling pot of water, mixed in the beer and sugar, and mixed. I was supposed to wait for the sauce to boil, but it never happened, but the sauce tasted fine, so I set it aside to cool.  I also added a small splash of Rasputin at this point to bring out the flavors of the beer in the sauce.

Now that I had chocolate sauce, I needed to add it to something, and what better than one of my favorite fruits, bananas. What better way to marry bananas and chocolate sauce than a Banana Royale. I forgot to get almonds, but the spirit of the dessert was still the same.

With the ice cream already out, I made a small stout float to go along with my sundae. To top it off, I needed a beverage, and what would go better with these than a plain Old Rasputin XII in a glass.

The sundae was rather tasty I must say.  The chocolate sauce had a definitely bite from the bourbon and added a nice sharp roasted flavor. Besides that, it was similar to any other chocolate sauce.

With the stout float, the roasted flavors died down, muted by the ice cream but the heat of the bourbon barrel and the 11% strength sang through loud and clear.

As for the beer, there’s a lot of wood, vanilla and booze in the nose. This is also present in the flavor and finish with the roasted flavors starting strong and fading into the flavors off the barrel. Throughout, the burn of the alcohol is very present. I really liked the beer, but I’m also a fan of bourbon. If you’re not so found of brown liquors, this beer might be a little too agressive for you at this point. Maybe with a little age, this will fade, or you can always try the classic Old Rasputin.

My final verdict might not surprise you. The chocolate sauce took about an hour from start to finish and made a lot of dishes.  It was definitely a nice treat, but how nice and at what cost of ingredients, I’m on the fence. The stout float just didn’t work for me this time. I’m usually a fan, but the booze dominated this combination. Maybe drizzled with the chocolate sauce this could have been different. Maybe a milkshake?

That leaves our winner of the evening, beer in a glass. Prep time was under 5 minutes, the ingredients and utensils were readily available, it tasted great, and was less filling. Best of all, you just have to clean the glass.

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy dessert, and some beers pair fantastically with them (Racer 5 and carrot cake), but in this case I prefer the beer on it’s own.