Kris : As I have said before, I don’t have the sweetest tooth, but I do love stout and this is a way I can enjoy it in the warmer months. Mind you, I am always happy to drink a stout, particularly after dinner or on a milder night.

 Hitachino Milk Stout Ice Cream

200ml Hitachino Milk Stout

3000ml thickened cream

4 egg yolks

1 vanilla bean (or a tsp good quality vanilla essence)

180g castor sugar

Method

Place the stout in a saucepan on a low/medium heat and reduce by approximately  half

(It’s best to use a sweet stout with low bitterness – Low IBU’s)

Split the vanilla bean long ways, scrape out the seeds and place into the saucepan

Add the cream, stir and allow to almost come to the boil

(Don’t let the mixture boil as it will split)

Put to the side and allow the vanilla to infuse

If you don’t have a vanilla bean, substitute with vanilla essence

Place a stainless bowl over a saucepan of water at a rolling boil (make sure the bowl is not touching the water)

Place the sugar and eggs in the bowl and cream them together

Slowly add the stout/cream mixture

Continue to whisk for around 10 minutes, creating a custard that coats the back of a metal spoon 

Allow the mixture to cool overnight in the fridge

Place the mixture in an ice-cream machine (using the operating instructions)

Caroline: It’s important to cool the mixture before you put it in the ice cream maker. We got impatient our first time round and put it in the maker a bit warm and the ice cream took FOREVER and formed some ice crystals…Second time round, chilled overnight, worked perfectly.

Kris: I cooked some rhubarb that we had picked from a friend’s garden with a small amount of water and sugar. We also bought some new season berries from the farmers market and served them with the ice cream.

Kris: It’s been a while since I have drank a Holgate Temptress, I found it at our local craft beer store, Cool Wine. It is a 6% Porter brewed with dutch cocoa and vanilla beans. It has a subtle caramel/ malt character with a little chocolate bitterness and a hint of vanilla. An ideal match to this dessert.

Caroline: Delicious! The ice cream was smooth with a bit of choclatey-coffee flavors. The Holgate cut through the creaminess perfectly and was sweet enough to match it…mmm beer icrecream