In the Drink: Julian's Beer Float

A tall glass of something fizzy and cold, christened with a scoop of something sweet and frozen, is greater than the sum of its parts. It is beverage alchemy. It is, of course, the float.

Grownup versions that use beer in place of soft drinks work surprisingly well, given that the mixture of beer with frozen dessert sounds like a carnival accident. For a few years now, bartenders have poured versions that use porters and stouts, riffing on the classic combination of root beer and vanilla. The results can be delicious, but heavy and rich – not the ideal summertime refresher.

Ever on your side, dear readers, we challenged Julian’s Bar Manager Kendra Plumley to build a better, hyper-seasonal beer float. Immediately she settled on a light beer base – not to be confused with diet beer, of course. Then she went all out, pairing up with the restaurant’s pastry chef, Jordan Veiga, to engineer a perfect match between the drink’s fizzy and frozen halves. Out of their lab emerged two winning options: One a Belgian white ale paired with a lemongrass-citrus scoop and a pale ale paired with a strawberry-habanero scoop.

After crowd testing both at Julian’s over the course of a long weekend, the Allagash version eeked out a win – though both had a fan base. Neither will be part of the regular cocktail menu, but Kendra hints that she may revisit them as specials and play around with other floats through August. Get ‘em while they’re icy cold.

Allagash Citrus Float

“We wanted to match the crisp, citrus, light spice of the Allagash White with a sorbet that would complement and not overpower it,” Kendra explains. If you don’t have a dessert genius at your disposal for custom-made sorbets, she says any citrus or berry flavor in the freezer aisle will work. Bonus: as the sorbet melts, she points out, the drink morphs into a shandy.

• 1 cold bottle of Allagash White beer
• 1 scoop of citrusy sorbet

If you need instructions for mixing a float, you’re probably owed a childhood “do-over.” Pour, plop, stir, sip.

Julian's
318 Broadway
861-1770