The Omni-tasting: Assorted Beer and Libby’s Cookies
Do you ever get carried away? I have to admit it’s something I suffer from, especially with things I am excited about. I had my brother and sister in law in town, we got talking about craft brew and the next thing I know I am at Libby’s having them fill a box. On arriving home, I opened my fridge. Here is what went down. Get a snack because this is a doozy.
The Beers: What do you give to out-of-towners if you have a night to show them CT craft beer? Granted I had shared with them a few selections in the past, but I always want people to see through my eyes how good nutmeg state beer can be. Based on what I had on hand, I poured the following:
_____ Brewing - A Round on the House: for those unfamiliar, that is not a typo. Referred to as Blank Brewing, this is another small NYC brewery that came to CT via the 12% Beer Project. This is a milk stout with chocolate and cacao nibs added, inspired by Coco Crispies cereal, it is medium sweet with huge chocolate flavor.
Beer’d Brewing - Dogs and Boats: of all the things I love about these guys, two at the top are their no nonsense approach to IPAs and the minimalistic but awesome labels. D&B is a double IPA in a fairly standard style. I found it to be very fragrant of citrus and pine with a light but supportive malt backbone and a satisfying bitterness on the finish.
Kent Falls Brewing - Some Vague Reassurance that Everything’s Going to be Alright: another fantastic brewery with their own style and things that make them great. I had a chance to visit their location a while back and plan to do so again. Great beer and a picturesque venue beg for a basket of cookies to bring along. The Vague Reassurance was a good way to round out a trio of beers - it is a NEIPA, light and juicy with a tropical aroma and refreshing sip ending with practically no bitter bite.
The Cookies: Going into Libby’s North Haven location (check out bakery visit for a bunch of details) and asking for several of each type of cookie they had, minus the pignoli cookie since I didn’t want to make them weigh 4 cookies separately, left me with six to enter the gauntlet. In some cases I am taking a guess at the names - if I mislabeled anything please let me know! Starting from top left and reading like a book.
Leaf Press - Two butter cookies, with raspberry jam in the middle half dipped in chocolate. This has been a favorite of mine since I was little, the butter cookies are soft, the jam has zing and the chocolate rounds it out well.
Italian Sesame Seed (Giuggiulena) - These are crunchy cookies, infused with a mild anise flavor and rolled in sesame seeds before baking. Low on sweetness but accompanied by the nuttiness of the sesame, a very nice cookie.
Anginetti - We have done pairings with this delicious cookie before, and for a reason. A simple cookie with a lemon icing, or glaze in this case. The simplicity and sweetness are ultimately satisfying and make it a great pairing partner.
Jam Thumbprint - A standard thumbprint, butter cookie with a dollop of red jam in the middle, with the added excitement of sprinkles in the dough. I never know if I can taste the sprinkles themselves, or if the happiness they add just makes everything taste better.
Cherry Gem - A shortbread cookie piped in a sophisticated swirl with a candied cherry in the middle. All of these cookies are on the simpler side but this makes it an art form. How can something made of so little be so satisfying? Again a versatile pairing partner.
Sprinkly Pink - Technical term of course. A butter cookie with sprinkles, no further explanation necessary.
The Pairings: There are few sure things in life, but getting a box of cookies like this to eat with some beer is probably one of them. The simplicity of the cookies just made every combination produce deep sighs of satisfaction. Maybe lacking pazazz and wow factor, but a great way to spend an evening. They all went well together in different ways but there was one that really was fantastic.
Blank Brewing Milk Stout and Leaf Press Cookies was the winner of the night. The chocolate of the beer was boosted by the chocolate on the cookie. The flavors did not over power the mellow butter cookie (I think the presence of two cookies in each Leaf Press was important) and the tart jam cut through the whole thing like a firework. Writing about it and seeing the pictures makes me want to recreate this right now, it was really that good.
So maybe I went overboard a little on the night in question, but, as we say around here, there is no better thing than sharing a thing that you love.
