Consider the vanilla bean. The Aztecs did. In addition to inventing long words ending in “atl” and awesome mythology, they had the patience to figure out how to cultivate vanilla — a particularly difficult flavor to come by. The pods are the fruit of an orchid plant (Vanilla planifolia), and they must be cured and fermented over the course of about six months. If that weren’t involved enough, the high-maintenance orchid itself must be pollinated by hand. Vanilla beans, like coffee and chocolate, only proliferate naturally in tropical latitudes, and, like wine grapes, the various strains reflect the qualities of the soil in which they are grown. This makes Mexican vanilla different from Madagascar vanilla, Tahitian different from Ugandan. For many years now, vanilla has been the adjunct that takes a craft beer’s status from gold to platinum, instantly raising its secondary value to ridiculous levels. Enough with the enough talk, let’s drink a six-pack of craft beers with vanilla in their recipes. Enjoy Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Vanilla.
Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Vanilla
Mother Earth Cali Creamin’ Vanilla Cream Ale
5% ABV, 20 IBU
In 2010, Daniel Love opened Mother Earth Brewing Co. in Vista, California, just north of San Diego. After an expansion in Vista, he then set his sights on a larger expansion that saw the opening of its second location, one a fair distance away from San Diego County to Nampa, Idaho, a suburb of Boise. Whether you’re road tripping to Vista or Boise, bring along Cali Creamin’ Creamsicle. For the past few years, Mother Earth’s best-selling beer in San Diego has been its Cali Creamin’ Madagascar vanilla cream ale. The vanilla beans add a cream soda-like flavor, with a slightly dry finish.
Equilibrium Almond Pop Batch 2
11% ABV
Equilibrium Brewery starts with their EQ base stout adding a massive number of slivered almonds, which were toasted in house at Equilibrium Bonfire. To round out the flavors, they then added marshmallows, Madagascar vanilla, cake mix, and lactose. Almond Pop pours a viscous pitch black with a tan head followed by toasted almond ice-cream pop and candy birthday cake flavor coating the tongue with the balance of nutty meets sweet, meets creamy, meets decadence.
Timber Blended With Lumber #1
13.4% ABV
This Timber Ales barrel-blended imperial stout features one-third imperial stout aged for 28 months in Elijah Craig 8-year blended with two-thirds fresh imperial stout, and then conditioned on Ugandan, Mexican and Comoros vanilla beans.
AleSmith Barrel-Aged Speedway Stout: Vanilla Shake
14.03% ABV
A collaboration with Mikkeller, this AleSmith Brewing barrel-aged blend of Speedway Stout and Beer Geek Vanilla Shake has been aged in premium bourbon barrels with the addition of San Diego roasted coffee and three varieties of vanilla beans. Each sip transports taste buds to a world of silky smoothness, where the bold flavors of coffee and vanilla dance harmoniously with the subtle hints of sweet bourbon.
Bottle Logic Darkstar November 2023
15.3% ABV
The 10th vintage of the bourbon barre-aged imperial stout that started it all for Bottle Logic Brewing — Darkstar November. Expect snippets of sweet molasses and spicy rye, velvety vanilla and bourbon-soaked chocolate oak.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
