I'm just going to preface what I went through to secure the bag on these bottles. Okay, maybe being a bit dramatic, but let's roll with it ! Last month I endured my first Dark Lord Day down in Munster, IN. 1 hour drive south + torrential down-pouring but still managed to make it inside for a great time. I'll plant my shout-out here to everyone on twitter that left me words of encouragement leading up to the day.
Weather aside, it was a blast and I'd highly recommend to anyone wanting to try an out of the ordinary beer festival with metal mania. I was completely blown away by the extent of bottle sharing (I walked in the gate and saw tables covered by literally every square inch with empty bottles/cans) and amount of people that attended. Beer people are the best people.
My four bottles of Dark Lord and variant Loadstar all made it safely back to Chicago in one piece. So with that, we now have Dark Lord ice cream for everyone to celebrate with! This came out sweet and a bit smoky - with notes of the vanilla poking through.
Suggested toppings by trial have been: Bananas, Crushed Pretzels, Strawberries, Whipped Cream (for sure), Hot Fudge, Maraschino Cherry for good measure
I used a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker and a Candy Thermometer to pasteurize eggs.
Ingredients
Ice Cream:
12 oz. Dark Lord reduced to 3/4 cup
5 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 granulated sugar
Optional Whipped Cream:
1/2 Cup Cream
2 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
Directions
Pour room temperature beer into a small sauce pot over medium heat. Reduce to 3/4 cup . ** Keep a close eye on this guy. Mine tended to try and bubble over and you don't want to burn it and throw off the flavors. Also kept pouring back and forth between a measuring cup to measure out to 3/4 cup, but took about 15 mins **
In a separate medium pot, combine milk/cream/ 1 tbsp. of sugar. Bring to a low simmer and stir so nothing sticks or burns to the sides. ** I suggest measuring all of your sugar first, and removing 1 tbsp. from there otherwise you're kind of out of sorts for the next step.
In a large separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and remaining sugar.
Once your milk mixture simmers, turn heat to low and remove from stove. Pour into a measuring cup for ease of adding slowly to the egg/sugar mixture. Pour in small bursts and whisk together quickly, making sure your eggs don't cook! Once you've added all the milk to the eggs, transfer entire batch back into the pot.
Pour in the reduced Dark Lord beer into the pot and mix. Turn heat back to medium/low, and throw your candy thermometer in to monitor. You'll want to get the liquid up to 180 degrees F for at least two minutes to pasteurize the eggs. Remove from heat and give final stir.
Transfer to a container to sit overnight . Once ready, pour into your ice cream machine maker per the instructions. The cuisinart ice cream maker instructions are to hit "ice Cream" and then the "on" button (very foolproof, I know).
This didn't need the full 25 mins to thicken - only about 15. From the ice cream maker, transfer back into a container and freeze at least 2 hours to solidify fully.
Enjoy ! For optional whipped cream - pour all ingredients in a bowl and whisk (or use whisk attachment for a kitchenaid/hand beater) until stiff peaks formed.