Girl Scout Cookies paired with Chicago beers

Austin's Notes: This light, pale Belgian style has grainy, yeasty notes that are almost spring-like, and a natural pairing for dishes with lemon flavors.

Our Notes: The cookie is very citrusy and the smell of the lemon wafts up as soon as you open the bag. The citrus is tempered by the floral notes of Abbey's Single, leaving a strong taste of malt and yeast. Overall, a refreshing pairing.

Austin's Notes: A French-style farmhouse ale with Australian hops, you’ll find a sunny spiciness combined with a hint of apple and barnyard funk.

Our Notes: We really wanted something that would balance the buttery flavors from the shortbread. We could have gone for something a bit lighter (a lager was suggested). The cookie made the farmhouse beer’s tangy notes come out, which was somewhat overpowering.

Austin's Notes: Cacao nib aging gives just a hint of cocoa dust flavor to this brown ale that sports nutty, slightly-roasty aromas.

Our Notes: It’s a classic chocolate and peanut butter pairing. When you pair the brown ale with the cookie, the beer comes off a tad on the bitter side (likely due to the use of cacao nibs). The smoother beer might might compliment the sweetness of the cookie, instead of keeping its bitterness all to itself.

Austin's Notes: Belgian Dubbels are sorely underrepresented in American craft beer. This marvelous example has plummy, raisin-y flavors with a note of caramel and bubble gum.

Our Notes: This pairing works perfectly—the beer has a strong raisin taste which meshes pleasingly with the cookie's strong cinnamon flavor. Like Harold and Maude, we liked them most together.

Austin's Notes: A 10% ABV imperial stout will have enough sweetness to counter any coffee you add to a beer, and you’ll get harmony with the rich, sweet, flavors of this one, and just enough roast and hoppiness to finish smoothly.

Our Notes: This was the favorite across the board. A great cookie and a great beer—I believe the words "a match made in heaven" were uttered. The beer is extremely smooth, with plenty of coffee and a touch of coconut. And you can't go wrong with Samoas, right?

Austin's Notes: On the other end of the coffee spectrum, Aquanaut’s coffee porter is big on java, which helps to bring out the slight fruit character in the yeast, as well.

Our Notes: It's hard to follow the wonderful pairing of the Samoas, but one of the cookies had to do it. It went to the Tagalongs, which had its salty peanut butter accentuated by the coffee porter. It wasn't unpleasant, but the World's Colombian Coffee Exposition might have been a better pairing.

Austin's Notes: This was my Hail Mary of the pairing choices, but the vanilla and mild mint at play in this not-at-all-over-sugared hard root beer (unlike others in the market) provides a nice pairing to lighter, sweet desserts that don’t have as much spice depth.

Our Notes: First, an admission: Hard root beers are not among our favorite things. But, we had to hand it to this one—the vanilla from the from the Forbidden Root pairs really well with the mint cookie. A beer with a slightly stronger vanilla flavor would have been a perfect pairing.