Thimble island Lager or Coffee Stout and Biscotti

Biscotti and Thimble island Lager or Coffee Stout

The Beer: We tried both the Coffee stout and the Lager. The stout is a traditional American stout with beans from a local coffee shop. It is light bodied, with a pleasant malty sweetness. Very roasted in aroma and flavor, the coffee beans come through but not in an overwhelming way. This is a very pleasant beer that is easy drinking.

The Lager is light crisp, and reminiscent of the big block American brewers. I thought it was very good. It had the lightness and crisp finish of ‘lite’ lagers that are out there, but not watered down or lacking in flavor. It had a grainy, fruity, bready taste. It is very light bodied, a great beer for after mowing the lawn, or, anytime really.   

The Cookie: The traditional Italian biscotti cookie might be the most adaptable cookie for dunking in a drink. Biscotti are crispy, crunchy breaded cookie. It is not too sweet. It comes in a variety of flavors, sometimes they are dipped in chocolate. Libby’s Italian pastry shop makes both chocolate biscotti with slivered almonds on top and an all almond flavor. Both are brittle crisp cookies that are very absorbent. They are especially delicious when dipped into a quality cup of coffee. I prefer the almond biscotti; it is sweet and very flavorful. The chocolate is good, but a little less sweet. Also, unless you are Italian or are familiar with the language you might be saying the name of the cookie wrong, this is the "proper" pronunciation. 

The Pairing: Of course with this cookie, the dunk is the preferred method. Before we visited the brewery I was thinking that the best combination would be the chocolate biscotti with the coffee stout. While this was good, the cookie does such a
good job absorbing the beer while maintaining its crisp that when you bite into the moist cookie there is almost as much liquid as is you took a sip of beer. The chocolate married well with the roasty flavors of the beer.

However, the lager went incredibly well with the almond biscotti. This was the first magical cookie beer combination for my wife. After she eat her first bite, she said, “Ohhhhh you have to try this.”

When I did, I knew. The mild sweetness of the cookie was boosted by the flavors of the beer to make it seem sweeter. The beers mild finish was helped by the almond notes of the cookie. The cookie was better because of the beer and the beer was better because of the cookie.

As we left the brewery I tried to share my last 2 biscotti sharing our table, but the declined. I feel like accepting cookies from a stranger is something we are taught about young.