Guinness Coffee Float

Happy March 1st! March is a big month, really. We’ve got Easter, St. Patrick’s Day and the first day of spring. For me, there’s always a mental shift in March. Suddenly, I start looking forward to summer and dreading it all at once. I look forward to the BBQs and beach days and margaritas, but dread the inescapable unending heat that comes along with it.

Today is a foggy 60 degree day, and I’m savoring it, because I know that cool days are becoming a rare commodity at this point in the season!

Obviously, today we are really looking ahead to St Paddy’s, and these Guinness Coffee Floats are a reeeeaallly delicious and easy way to do that. There are only 2 ingredients, and the only things that may take any time at all in the prep are finding the bottle opener and the ice cream scoop!

Just scoop and pour.

I tried a version with homemade whipped cream, and of course it was delicious, and I’m not discouraging you from doing that, but I didn’t find it to be enough of an improvement to justify changing this from a super easy recipe that takes 2 minutes to a moderately easy recipe that takes 15.

However, feel free to split the difference and use canned whipped cream. I won’t tell!

Can I just tell you how much I LOVE coffee ice cream. You probably already know that I’m a coffee fiend, and WHO doesn’t love ice cream?? The combination is enough to make me weak at the knees, twitterpated and completely devoid of all self restraint.

Hence, the purchasing of coffee ice cream is reserved for special occasions and holidays.

The hardest thing about it is deciding what time of day to consume it. I probably can’t be a self respecting adult if I eat ice cream for breakfast (or can I?), but if I eat it too late in the afternoon, I won’t sleep from all the caffeine.

Really, it’s Best to avoid it altogether, except, have you tasted it??!!

It’s genuinely the best.

Have you ever tried Ben and Jerry’s Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz flavor? This is a tangent so forgive me, but it is so good! Coffee flavored ice cream dappled with chunks of espresso fudge. It’s not for the faint of heart. You have to really love coffee, because it’ll punch you in the mouth with it’s espresso soaked goodness. Try it if you get the chance.

Why did I choose coffee flavored ice cream for the guinness float?

Two reasons.

1. All of the above
2. An excuse to eat it

Now, it just so happens that once I made the floats, coffee ice cream and guinness proved to be a deliciously complex combination of flavors, but my original motivation was nothing more than just an excuse to eat some coffee ice cream. I hoped that they would taste good together.

They did, and they do.

You’ve got to try it!

SO…scoop the ice cream!

You can use Guinness or any other dark stout that you like.

Pour it slowly over the ice cream and watch the magic start to happen.

Ice cream-y beer-y goodness comin’ your way, friends!

Just look at that float with every tan, cream and brown color and sweet, bitter and roasted barley flavor melding together to make the tastiest float!

Ironically, it’s a float that your 10-yr-old self would have dismissed as foul and disgusting. I’m grateful for my grown up taste buds that appreciate the bitterness of coffee and beer!

It’s good to keep stirring this while you drink it. If you let it sit, melted ice cream gets carried up into the foam and makes a weird crust on top. Nobody wants weird crust on their float. Stir, slurp, repeat!

I’m not even gonna use my recipe plug-in for this 2 ingredient recipe. It’s that simple.

What you need for 2 floats: 

1 12 oz bottle of guinness or other dark stout, chilled

4 scoops of coffee or espresso flavored ice cream (I used the Trader Joe’s brand coffee flavor)

What to do:

Scoop two generous scoops of ice cream into two pint glasses or beer mugs.

Pour half of the guinness into each glass. Stir and enjoy!

Don’t forget to wear green!

Thanks for reading 🙂