If Cookie Monster drank beer, this would probably be his favourite.
North Brewing Company’s latest release is adorably titled Twinkle Pony. It’s a cookie stout which includes flavours you'd find in a bakery, brewed with macarons from Le French Fix Pâtisserie.
“Pastry stouts are a fun style you see lots of breweries experimenting with these days,” says North Brewing co-owner Rozina Darvesh, who worked out the recipe with fellow co-owner and brewer Josh Herbin. “I love French macarons and beers with coconut in them, so we decided to use the macaron as inspiration and experiment with this style using toasted coconut, toasted almonds and vanilla.”
The chocolate notes come from the malt, but the toasted coconut, almonds and vanilla were added when the fermentation was finished. This gave them more flexibility when they wanted to adjust the flavour, Darvesh explains: “We ended up adding three times the amount of coconut than was originally intended.”
Cans of Twinkle Pony—featuring a colourful label by illustrator Nicole Giacomantonio—will be available at both the Dartmouth and Halifax locations of North on Friday, March 9. It’ll also be pouring at Battery Park.