Recipe: I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for...Beer

Call it boredom, call it a love for beer (or ice cream), but no matter what it was, something drove me to try my hand at making a beer ice cream today.

Not only have I never made iced cream before - I don't have a machine, which means I had to do it the long way, which I'll describe here. I'll save my thoughts on the finished product until the end, but all I'll say is that I definitely recommend at least trying it.

Trailhead Lager - brewed by
Wellington Brewery in
Guelph, ON. 

I went with Trailhead Lager for this, mainly because I had a ton of it in the house. I just tried it yesterday as well, and you can find my review for it here. It's a regular lager, and I figured that the brand didn't matter too much, since it was being used as an ingredient.

I gathered a few different beer recipes online, but knew that I'd have to modify them all slightly since I didn't have an iced cream maker.


I started with these ingredients:

• 1 Cup : 35% Heavy/Whipping Cream
• 1 Cup : Beer (Trailhead Lager)
• 4 Egg Yolks
• 1/2 Cup : White Sugar
• Ice (a handful)

The beginning.

and needed these supplies (without an iced cream maker)

• 1 Medium Saucepan
• Sieve/Strainer
• 2 Metal Bowls (one smaller than the other)
• Whisk

I gathered all the ingredients and immediately threw both metal bowls in the freezer to start - since I knew they were going to be used to cool the end result.

First, I separated my egg yolks and whisked the 1/2 C. of sugar into the eggs, until they turned a lighter shade of yellow - the sugar and the constant whisking somewhat denatures the eggs, turning it the lighter colour.

Separately from that, I combined the cream and beer in a medium saucepan, and whisked every few minutes until it simmered (it just needs to get hot). Remove it from the heat and pour it slowly (seriously...little by little) into the egg/sugar mixture. If you pour it too quickly, the heat of the mixture will cook the eggs - you're trying to temper it here.

Once you've combined it all, put it back into the saucepan over medium heat and whisk constantly until the mixture visibly thickens.

My mixture pre-freezer.

While it's thickening, prepare your cooling bowls. Take the large metal bowl, throw a handful of ice into it, and then throw the smaller bowl on top - pour the hot mixture into the bowl and let it sit in this cooling 'ice-bath' until the mixture has cooled down (this is basically just to cool it enough to go into the freezer).

If you have an ice cream maker, put the mixture in there now, otherwise, go old school like I did.

Check on the mixture EVERY 20 minutes - and whisk the hell out of it. You're trying to break up the ice crystals and keep it creamy.

After you've done this about 5-6 times - you'll notice it turning into the proper texture - you'll want to pour it into it's long term container, close it up and leave it.

Let it freeze for at least 3 hours (or overnight) and you'll have your ice cream!

My finished product.

As for the taste - it's honestly pretty delicious - it's sweet, but has the taste of beer. Michelle doesn't like the taste too much, but admitted that it wasn't bad.

I'll definitely be making this one again!

Cheers