Great Palates Think and Taste Alike...

I left Raritan Bay on a chilly morning, as I had an appointment in Budd Lake. The motorcycle ride up shaded Rt. 206 was definitely a tid-bit-nipply, and I was thinking about breakfast--eggs, bacon, home fries and coffee.

What I never anticipated--but perhaps should have-- was that my breakfast would be ice cream and beer. After all, I was meeting Komal Das (Left, with Dad, Pankha) of Das Creamery, and I was also meeting Heide Hassing (below), brewer nonpareil of Angry Erik Brewing in Lafayette, NJ.

The session came about for a number of reasons. I have known Heide, her husband Erik (who's NEVER angry when I see him) and of Heide's unique beers for many years. I have seen and tasted their beers at festivals and pubs up and down the state, and I have enjoyed them immensely.

I met Komal at a beer dinner at Humphrey's Tavern in Glen Gardner some months ago. She was sitting by herself enjoying what she was eating and drinking (and probably her peace and quiet). So, with my usual charm, I sauntered over without stumbling and made her acquaintance.

Delightful gal, easy to talk to and friendly, to boot. We exchanged business cards. Hers said, "Das' Creamery." And--voila!-- I learned she had an ice cream store in Budd Lake. Over the summer I learned her store was recently voted the best ice cream in ALL of Morris County by NJ.com.

My wheels began turning. What if I were to bring these two ladies together to create a really fabulous and unique beer ice cream, something not just thrown together with Breyer's and a Guinness? So I reached out, told them my idea and they agreed with alacrity.

But they certainly bring more than alacrity to their respective crafts. They bring a necessary passion. Komal, an RU grad, took a one-week "ice cream course" at Penn State. Her dad, Pankha, took his course at the University of Ontario, and Das' Creamery was born.

Pankha shared, "We love ice cream, and we never scrimp on quality in any of our ingredients, irrespective of the profit margin." Komal chimed in, "We do this for the love of ice cream--not the love of money!"

Whereupon her smiling Dad quickly inserted: "Money helps." Both believe that if they like their own ice cream, others will, too, a fact that has been borne out over the past year.

May through August is slamming, and Das' Creamery closes for four weeks on December 23 each year just to catch a much-needed breath, but they start right back up in February, and business picks up, too. "I can be in here with the lights off, CLOSED sign on the door, sweeping, moving tables around and people will come to the window, knock and ask, "Are you open?" said Komal.

The shop has thirty-two spots for ice cream and twelve of their flavors rotate. And it is with the flavors that Komal and Pankha have the most fun. They even make a Kulfi, an Indian-inspired dessert that requires reducing whole milk down to a homemade sweetened condensed milk. Their palates are honed to detect the slightest off notes and best nuances of their products, much the same way that Heide uses her palate, eyes and nose and tongue to produce her quality beers.

In fact, sitting at the table listening to the three of them share their sensory insights made me feel as though I was an eavesdropper at the Great American Beer Festival listening to expert cicerones discuss the characteristics of the beers.

For her part, Heide had transported three beers from Angry Erik-- a 10.8% H2 Ale made with hibiscus, a 10.2% Russian Imperial Stout called "Wolves Among Sheep" and a brand new beer that will be released for Oktoberfest next Saturday called "Dark Side of the Leaf." It's designed to supplant a normal Oktoberfest. I predict it will do very well.

And our mission today was to pair the ice creams with the beers so Komal and Heide could do a most unusual collaboration--two female, local, Jersey business owners will join to produce a really distinct and delicious beer ice cream.

Beer ice cream, of course, is nothing new, but most beer ice creams are made with commercial ice cream and beer that doesn't come from a very small brewery. And these two women, small business owners in the truest sense of the word, use only the highest quality ingredients in their products while paying great attention to detail, so their collaboration is likely the first of its kind in NJ.

So what will the first joint effort be? After much discussion between the women and Pankha (I was busy finishing my ice cream, Pankha's and Heide's), the consensus was to use the H2 Ale in Das' exceptional vanilla ice cream. Nor will it be just pouring beer into the confection. They talked about honey, swirling and vanilla ratios; I swear, it was fascinating.

Oh, they were nice enough to ask for my input, and I gave it when my head wasn't in my bowl or sipping beer. I was elated to see they agreed with it regarding the Hibiscus beer Ice cream, which will be their first effort, in order to salvage as much of the "summer spirit" as they can. Komal likes to be creative when naming her ice cream, so she said she'd put her thinking cap on. Down the road, that stout or the Dark Side will likely be paired with chocolate, coffee or even pumpkin ice cream.

My ice cream passion is just a tad under my beer passion, so this was a momentous day indeed. Both Heide and Komal assured me that any calories associated with their concoction "do not count."

I will keep you posted as to the progress of the effort, and especially as to the release date. There may even be videos to enable beer and ice cream lovers to watch the process close up.