Beer'd Hobbit Juice and Elven Lembas Bread

One day in March some friends of ours got together in a dark basement, prepared lots of meals, and watched all of the extended edition Lord of the Rings films in a 12 hour marathon.

We followed a Hobbits preferred eating schedule that includes all the major meals: breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and of course supper. 

What a better way to get through afternoon tea than with some Lembas bread (lemon shortbread cookies) and some Hobbit Juice, an ale inspired by the Hobbits love of good food and good beer.

The Beer:  Hobbit Juice is one of the wonderful IPA offerings from the ever present and popular Beer’d Brewing company. It has a big bouquet of hops and a nice malt balanced bitter bite and some really fun can art.  A hobbit loves peace and quiet, good tilled earth and a yummy ale. At 9.2% ABV this is an imperial ipa and something that might actually get Legolas a little tipsy.

The Cookie: Lembas bread is a staple for the fellowship after they leave lothlorian. It’s sustinence is one of the only reasons Sam and Frodo make it to Mordor so I figured they were perfect for our marathon day. I made these cookies using a simple shortbread cookie recipe, the only change I made was the addition of a little lemon juice and lemon zest to citrus up the flavor to match the beer. The shortbread was soft but crunchy and a little crumbly just the way I like it.

The Pairing: The sweet crumbly buttery cookie with a big lemon pop was perfect for the citrus forward IPA. Also, this pairing was awesome fun for an afternoon tea.