If you go to the local county fair every year, you know that one of the main attractions is finding out what they are deep frying this year. It seems like every summer season they figure out how to turn everything from traditional Twinkies to a bacon wrapped, maple syrup sundae into a heart attack on a plate…that tastes delicious!

Well, outside of the fairground scene a small chain of burger joints in Colorado just mashed up two well known items — Beer and Milk Shakes. Yes, a booze-and-ice-cream combo is on the menu at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar, a small chain of burger shops with outposts in Colorado and the Southeast. They call it a “Left Hand Brewing Company nitro milk stout shake” just hit menus. Just imagine: A tempting combination of creamy coffee-chocolatey stout, vanilla, and caramel is such an obvious flavor pairing, we can’t believe no one thought of it before. Those craft beers with flavors, are just too good to leave alone.

Some places are getting a touch more experimental. At McMenamins, a small chain of restaurants in Oregon and Washington, you can try a Ruby Ale (which has hints of raspberry) mixed with house-made Marionberry ice cream. In San Francisco, diners at The Ice Cream Bar can get Guinness, caramelized honey-flavored ice cream, and Valrhona chocolate syrup blended together and topped with a float of port—consider the lily officially gilded.

Sugar rush catatonic stupor dessert-in-a-glass. However, the hops and malt really help to counter the blinding glucose hit of the ice cream. And while you won’t necessarily note any residual carbonation from the beer, it does turn the whole drink into a gorgeous, frothy, delightful mess that you’ll continue thinking about for a good long time.

Don’t ask us why, exactly, but American Bars finds these new, frothy fermented beverages endlessly fascinating. Inventive, with an astonishing variety, the amazing range of flavors and feelings that can be made from a relatively limited list of ingredients.  

But there is a greater element to be considered here. And as a journalist, an wordsmith like myself looks beyond concoction to community…the humanity this brings together. It is fascinating the way a particular beer builds a sense of community – and how craft brewing has become a powerful business force in the United States, driving hundreds of millions in investment annually and developing a unique local subculture that is reshaping tourism, driving new trends in restaurants and food culture, and leading to revolutionary changes in the patchwork of alcohol laws across the country.

NOTE: For those not as steeped in the beer world, “craft beer” is basically anything that isn’t the familiar mass-produced lagers of Budweiser and Coors. It tends to come from smaller producers using fresh ingredients. It’s still only about 12 percent of the U.S. beer market. But it is growing robustly every year, both in volume and revenue, at a time when the overall beer market is dropping (people are drinking less Bud and Coors, and more of the local stuff, in other words).

Try some of your local craft beer. Chances are there is a brewer in your own community offering a fine selection right now.

And don’t forget the ice cream.