Stony Creek Double Ruffled and John’s Orange Zest Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

The Beer: Stony Creek has hit the mark with this beer. It has a big hop profile with medium body and the bitterness doesn’t cross the line. It has a citrus juice note that is big but not overwhelming. Some of Stony Creek’s other submissions into the IPA category like the Cranky and Big Cranky aren’t really up my alley, they live up to their name and stray too far into the resiny/bitter territory of IPAs for my pallet. This double ruffled is just right for me. You get tons of citrusy hops and a well-balanced bitter finish, one of the easiest drinking double IPAs I’ve had.

The Cookie: Of the cookies we have made for our pairings, this is in our top 2. The cookie itself is an oatmeal cookie with coconut, orange zest and juice in its icing. It is somewhat thin, with crisp edges, but maintains some softness in the pillowy center. The icing though… the icing… what can I say? It is marvelous. A sweet citrus packed frosting with orange zest and some orange juice. It would be good if spread on ANYTHING, but with the crunch and soft of the oatmeal coconut it is sublime. You might think that the coconut would be lost in the frosting and oatmeal but it is there in the lingering flavors.

The Pairing: This pairing is a real winner. The beer and cookie are both good, but together they are diabolical. The sweetness and citrus of the frosting interact with the bitter and citrus in the beer in a fun playful way. The only bad thing about this pairing is that we didn’t have more cookies.