Here comes another pandemic Valentine’s Day. According to a study conducted in January among just over one thousand adults by the data company Morning Consult, only 43 percent of the sample plans dinner out, down from 69 percent in 2017, the last time the study was run. (The reason most often given was the virus, not inflation.) So if you are planning an intimate evening at home, get creative with what to drink alongside dessert: cookie beer. Talea Beer, based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has joined with Levain Bakery to create an almost ebony stout brewed with their popular dark chocolate chip cookies and cocoa in the mash. The beer is more bitter than sweet with a mouth-filling richness, and is quite strong at 8.5 percent A.B.V. (alcohol by volume). The sumptuously dense, gooey cookie, or any other chocolate dessert for that matter, is better than a pretzel with this beer.
Talea Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Stout on draft at the brewery, four-pack (12-ounce cans), $18.99 at Whole Foods markets in New York City, Long Island and Westchester starting Monday, taleabeer.com; Levain Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies, $9.99 for eight at Whole Foods but $7.99 through Feb. 15, $4.50 each at Levain, and also available for nationwide shipping, levainbakery.com.
Follow NYT Food on Twitter and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Get regular updates from NYT Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice.
