2017 Beer Pairings for Girl Scout Cookies

Photo via Tap Trail    Great read via Beer and Brewing

It’s Girl Scout Cookies time! And there’s actually awesome pairings of Girl Scout Cookies and beer! Right? Who knew? This list has every cookie you can get from the Girl Scouts, with suggested brews to go with them. Let’s hear your favorite pairings!

S’Mores

S’Mores is a new cookie for 2017, and it comes in two versions based on local availability. One is a graham cookie that’s been dipped twice in a crème icing before it’s covered in a delicious chocolate blanket, and the other is a graham cracker sandwich filled with chocolate and marshmallow filling. While you could complement the chocolate, graham cracker, and marshmallow with a sweet or roasty stout, we recommend going with a contrasting pairing of a tart, fruity sour.

• Brasserie Cantillon Zwanze 2016 Cantillon Framboise
• Cascade Brewing Kriek Ale
• Upland Brewing Blackberry
• Epic Sour Brainless on Peaches
• Breakside Brewery Passionfruit Sour Ale

Caramel de-Lites /Samoas

Match the toasted coconut of these cookies with even more toasted coconut and the roasted caramel flavors in these beers.

• Neshaminy Creek Bourbon Barrel-Aged Leon Russian Imperial Stout
• Westbrook Brewing Co. 4th Anniversary Chocolate Coconut Almond Imperial Stout
• Dragon’s Milk Reserve Coconut Rum Barrel
• Prairie Artisan Ales Prairie Paradise
• Modern Times Beer Monsters’ Park (Bourbon Barrel w/ Coconut & Cocoa Nibs)

Thin Mints

These dark and roasty stouts deliver a mouthfeel that pairs well with the crisp, minty crunch of the wafer cookie (especially if you keep your Thin Mints in the freezer). Consider yourself warned, though, as these beers range from 9 – 20 percent ABV and you’ll likely find yourself reaching for a second sleeve of cookies in record time.

• Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout
• Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti
• Deschutes Brewery Obsidian Stout
• Dogfish Head World Wide Stout
• The Lost Abbey Serpent’s Stout
• Firestone Walker Parabola

Lemonades

The shortbread texture of the cookies and lemon flavors in the icing make an excellent contrasting duo for these citrusy IPAs and pale ales.

• Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Torpedo Extra IPA
• New Belgium Citradelic
• Maine Beer Company Lunch
• Green Flash Brewing Soul Style
• Lagunitas Citrusinensis Pale Ale

Shortbread/Trefoil Cookies

Stick with tradition by pairing these classic cookies with traditional beer styles such as Baltic porter’s cheek-warming notes of dark fruits and coffee or a Scottish ale with notes of cocoa and coffee and a dash of smoke.

• 21st Amendment He Said
• Uinta Brewing Company Sea Legs
• Fat Head’s Brewery Battleaxe Baltic Porter
• Founders Brewing Co. Backwoods Bastard
• Surly Brewing Simpson’s Scottish Ale
• Alaskan Brewing Smoked Porter

Do-Si-Dos/Peanut Butter Sandwich

Let the flavors of the Do-Si-Dos dance with the balance and rich texture of these malty lagers.

• Karbach Brewing Mother In Lager
• Mikkeller American Dream
• Great Lakes Eliot Ness
• Devils Backbone Brewing Vienna Lager
• Kansas City Bier Company Dunkel

Savannah Smiles

Push aside that lemon wedge you occasionally put in your beer and, if you must add a wedge, consider accenting your beer with a Savannah Smiles instead. The lemon-flavored cookie wedges have been dusted with powdered sugar and pair well with these witbiers and bières de miel.

• To Ǿl Wbeer Witbier
• Door County Brewing Big Sister Witbier
• Avery Brewing Liliko’I Kepolo
• Casey East Bank
• Side Project Brewing Bière Blanche

Cranberry Citrus Crisps

Try these bières de garde for toffee notes and a subtle spice from farmhouse ale yeast that plays nicely with the cranberry inundated cookies. Make sure to let these beers warm up a little for maximum intensity.

• Ponysaurus Brewing Co. Bière De Garde
• Funkwerks Tropic King
• Jack’s Abby with Stoneface Brewing Friend Request
• Scratch Brewing Chanterelle
• Creature Comforts Before the Wood

Tagalongs/Peanut Butter Patties

The vanilla, chocolate, and peanut butter flavors from the Tagalongs sound like adjuncts in a stout. So grab these flavor-filled stouts to heighten the insanity of this pairing.

• Funky Buddha S’mores Stout
• Belching Beaver Brewery Peanut Butter Milk Stout
• Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break
• Horse & Dragon Brewing Sad Panda
• Founders Brewing Lizard of Koz

Rah Rah Raisins

You’ll definitely be cheering when you pair these oatmeal cookies loaded with raisins and Greek yogurt–flavored chunks with these complementing sour brown ales filled with dark fruit flavors.

• Monk’s Café Flemish Sour Ale
• Bruery Terreux Gypsy Tart
• Stone Brewing Barrel-Aged Brown Ale w/Balaton Sour Cherries
• Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse de Bourgogne
• pFriem Flanders Red

Thanks-A-Lot

These shortbread cookies have had one side dunked in chocolate fudge. Keep the two-faced theme going by pairing with a contrasting beer such as these imperial IPAs.

• Sixpoint Brewery Resin
• Boulevard Brewing Co. The Calling
• Great Lakes Brewing Co. Lake Erie Monster
• Harpoon Brewery Leviathan IPA
• Ska Brewing Decadent Imperial IPA

Or reinforce the cookie flavors with the roasted goodness and creamy mouthfeel of these milk stouts.

• Odell Brewing Co. Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout
• Elysian Brewing Split Shot
• Flying Monkeys The Chocolate Manifesto Triple Chocolate Milk Stout
• Wicked Weed Brewing Milk & Cookies
• Dangerous Man Brewing Co. Chocolate Milk Stout

Trios

These gluten-free whole-grain cookies are made with oats, chocolate chips, and peanut butter. Pair these with a gluten-free or a gluten-reduced beer for a gluten-less spectrum of flavor.

• To Ǿl Reparationsbajer
• Wicked Weed Brewing Gluten FREEk
• Ghostfish Brewing Company Peak Buster
• Brasserie Dupont Foret Libre
• Shubrew Glutenous Maximus with Ethopian Espresso

Toffee-tastic

These gluten-free butter cookies, offered only in select areas, are loaded with bits of toffee, and beer lovers can harmonize with the bread and toffee flavors of the cookie.

• Societe The Malingerer
• Green’s Dubbel Dark Ale

Or they can stray away from full-on gluten abstinence with these beers.

• Brewery Ommegang Three Philosophers
• Deschutes Not the Stoic
• Elevation Apis IV