This holiday season when you're elbows deep in flour rolling out your holiday cookies, add a little more joy to the mix with a proper beer pairing. From dark, toasty stouts to the tart, wild characteristics of sours, there is a beer out there just waiting to be paired with your favorite Christmas cookies. It doesn't matter if you're busting out a fancy bottle to serve with your cookie platter for friends and family, or simply must test the validity of the pairings yourself, it won't be hard to see why cookies and beer do go really well together.
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But where to start? Here to help us out is America's Favorite Christmas Cookies Paired with Beer from VinePair. The key here to any good cookie and beer pairing is to compare and contrast the sweet flavors of the cookies with the accompanying beer's profile.
Take a classic like the chocolate chip cookie for instance. It's biscuity, chocolate flavor beautifully compliments the roasted malt characteristic of a stout like Guinness. Or, if you're a milk and cookies fan (who isn't), then drink your milk in stout form. A milk stout like Left Hand Milk Stout has all those roasted malt characteristics your cookie needs with the milk creaminess you crave.
Those little gingerbread cookies on the other hand need some bite to compliment their spice filled taste. In that case, pair them with a bright, hoppy IPA like Alpine's Duet or Bell's Two Hearted Ale. The hops and ginger are enhanced, giving you a mouthful of flavor.
Then there's the jam-filled thumbprint cookie. With a fruity center, try a sour. Depending upon your jam, you could opt for a fruity sour like Texas' favorite Jester King's Atrial Rubicite, or go the tarter route with, say, New Belgium's La Folie.
Then again, a sweeter sour like Lindemen's Framboise and peanut butter cookies are a duo that can't be beat. Bite into the peanut butter cookie, then take a swig of Lindemen's raspberry forward lambic. Notice anything? Yep, it taste like peanut butter and jelly.
What about those sugar and butter cookies? For those, Belgians are an excellent choice. The bread-y qualities will compliment one another, while the fruity yeast characteristic of the beer will balance the sugar in the cookie. For these guys, try Duvel or Russian River's Damnation. You'll notice after one sip how these beers accentuate the flavor of the cookie, without the sweetness becoming overbearing.
Whether you play it safe with your cookies and beer or bust out your rare collection from your cellared stash, one thing is for certain, these pairings are so sinfully good that all your holiday stress will melt away. So go one, live a little. Pour your beer, grab your cookie platter, and get ready to dunk.
