Beer Cookies at Vin Bin

I mentioned on Sunday that I wanted to try the beer cookie...but ended up at a wine tasting, not a bad night but I still wanted to try the beer cookie.  This all began when I was logged into my twitter account Friday night and I noticed a retweet from Taste of the Boroughs about Beer Cookies being sold at the Vin Bin in Marlborough starting today.  Now I enjoy a quality brew as much as anyone, but in my years of running up bar tabs I have yet to encounter a "beer cookie".  I was intrigued and attempted an early evaluation on Sunday but it took till today to actually get my hands on the snack.

Rick Lombardi, Vin Bin owner, was kind enough to share some of his beer cookie samples so I could write today's blog.  I decided the best way to experience the beer cookie was to of course enjoy a beer as well.  One of my favorite brews Dogfish is carried at Vin Bin so I grabbed a couple of bottles and headed home to evaluate my new find.

At first I tried the beer cookie alone and the flavor was a bit overwhelmed with fennel.  But when I opened a Dogfish I really enjoyed the beer cookie.  The powerful fennel works better as a compliment to the hops in the beer.  The cookie is somewhat like a crisp bagel but not as crunchy as a pretzel with fennel flavor.  I only tried the original, but I believe there is a pepper flavor. 

After a little research I found out that Matt Virzi is the owner of Bokos bakery in Shrewsbury and the creator of the beer cookie.  Matt created the beer cookie by modifying his grandmothers recipe for taralli to, among other things, include beer in the ingredients.  For the Italian cooks out there taralli is pretty well known but this was my first experience.

As I said, I enjoyed the beer cookie, especially with the beer. :-)  And it does seem to enhance the flavor of the brew.  If you don't like beer or if you hate fennel I am not sure the beer cookie will please your palette but as I tell my 5 year old, you can't be sure until you try it.  Currently the Vin Bin is one of a select few Boroughs location where you can find the beer cookie.  Congrats to the Vin Bin for supporting local business by carrying this item.  We'll see who else in the Boroughs picks up this unique item.