Chocolate Stout Beer Float w/ Rum Glazed Cherries

Beer.

I love it. Seriously, if it was a person, it would embody all cultures, styles, taste, and personalities. Beer is the most interesting man in the world. That's why beer can transform itself into a dessert. Now, it can't be any old beer, it's gotta be one with character. It has to have hair on it's chest, a utility knife, and some survival skills.

That is why chocolate stout is in order. Specifically, I used Young's Double Chocolate Stout. The texture, flavor, and color of the beer is just outstanding for this recipe. If you don't have it available, that is all good. Just make sure you are using a chocolate, or really smooth and mellow stout. I mean, really, this stuff should be Billy Dee smooth, no bite at all. What you want is a mindblowing combination of all flavor senses. Lemme
'splain.

We have the beer, which is a smooth bitter flavor. Then we have the rum glazed cherries, which give us tart and sweet. Also, we throw in some more of that sweet smoothness with melted milk chocolate with smooth clarified butta. Finally, we take it to the next supreme level of awesomeness with roasted peanuts and smoked salt.

That's right folks. This is not your kid's float. Pure fantastical flavor;
booze, fruit, more booze, chocolate, fat, cream and more fat, with some salt, crunch, and more salt. Bitter, sour, sweet, and salt. I didn't throw any soy sauce in for that umami flavor, just be glad of that, but all four major flavors can be tasted in one bite, creating a ridiculous confusion of senses, yet at the same time, a curiosity, a uniqueness you don't get to experience that often.

Now, you can take all four flavors and ingest them all at the same time, no doubt. Eat some sugar with salt, dash some bitters and bite a lemon, and sure, you get the senses, but those flavors don't compliment each other. That is the magic of this recipe. Flavors that are opposites, yet, the nuances of chocolate, cherry, fat and salt, combine to make a one of a kind experience.

Try this on for size at your next adventurous shindig, or when you just have a craving for something a bit different. I guarantee, you will want to experience this more than once. Enjoy!

Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients: 
2 cans of Young's Double Chocolate Stout, or other smooth chocolate stout
20 red sweet cherries, halved and pits removed
1/4 c. spiced rum
2 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 c. milk chocolate chips
2 T. clarified butter
salted roasted peanuts, whole or rough chopped
applewood smoked salt (if you can't find it locally, find it here. It's an awesome pantry item to have!)
4 scoops of your favorite vanilla bean ice cream

Directions:

1. Take the rum and sugar and place it into a shallow saute pan. Turn the heat on medium-low, and bring to a simmer. Once the liquid reduces by half, add the pitted cherries, and the vanilla extract. Turn to a low flame, and continue to simmer. Watch the liquid level, and add water if needed to keep hydrated. 
2. To make clarified butter, take about a stick and melt it in the microwave in a deep cup. Use only the fat, and throw away the milk. If some of the milk solids get into the chocolate, it will make it lumpy, and clumped up. If you can't use butter, a vegetable oil will suffice.
3. Using a small sauce pot, add about a cup of water, and put on medium high heat and bring to a boil. Take a bowl that fits down inside the pan for a double boiler, and get the butter warm. Once the butter is warm, stir in the chocolate chips to melt them. 
4. At this point, you can add a dash of the smoked salt to the chocolate, or sprinkle on separate if not everyone wants that flavor in there. 
5. Now take a shallow to medium sized glass (I used a coupe glass in this recipe, but a rocks glass would work as well.) and scoop your ice cream into it. Pour your beer around the ice cream, not over top, it will mess up your fantastic presentation to come!
6. Be liberal about the chocolate sauce and drizzle all over the ice cream, and then divide the cherries evenly among the glasses, and any glaze remaining. Sprinkle the smoked salt around, and add your peanuts. Serve immediately!

What tasty dreams are made of. 

I had this idea from a beer party we had this past weekend, and didn't even get to serve it to anyone, because everyone was too full! So I figured I would jazz it up with some extra ingredients since I had everything sitting there just waiting to be used. I'm pretty excited to serve this one up next time we have a party, or maybe just for a summertime porch dessert!