GLENDALE -- With LA's year-round sunny weather and unusually hot summer, it's a wonder there aren't more beer floats on the menus of local restaurants.
For now, fans of the delicious adult dessert have just one opportunity to taste the best beer floats in Southern California: Food GPS's annual beer float showdown.
The competition's fourth event, held at the Golden Road Brewing in Glendale, Calif., on Saturday, featured local beers from Eagle Rock Brewery, Strand Brewing Co., Golden Road Brewing, El Segundo Brewing Co. and Beachwood BBQ and Brewing.
As in years past, Food GPS editor Joshua Lurie paired the breweries randomly with ice cream from five LA restaurants: The Oinkster, Ray's and Stark Bar, Sweet Rose Creamery, Short Order/Short Cake and Whist.
Two teams tied for first place. Defending champions Andre Guerrero and Jan Purdy of The Oinkster won the crowd's votes with their "beer-amisu," an espresso mascarpone ice cream in Eagle Rock Brewery's Stimulus Belgian Amber Ale, topped with a ladyfinger cookie.
Hourie Sahakian of Short Order/Short Cake also won the crowd over with her cherry sorbet in an Ito-Weisse Berliner-Weisse beer from Strand Brewing Co., finished off with a cherry garnish.
"It's nice to have your first year be a win," Sahakian told The Huffington Post. She hinted that Short Order might soon be serving a custard shake inspired by cherries, in honor of her beer float.
The Eagle Rock Brewery beer that helped Guerrero win his second beer float showdown was just finished last week, and will soon be available at Oinkster.
In addition to raising money for Pablove, an organization that funds pediatric cancer research, Lurie said the beer float showdowns were a good way to spread the word about Southern California's burgeoning craft beer industry.
"So many talented home breweries are on the verge of going pro, and we already have an incredible craft base," Lurie told HuffPost. "So Angelenos should have no problem finding a great craft beer in every neighborhood in no time."
Temperatures are expected to continue rising the rest of the week. Get inspired by this year's beer float contestants and then get yourself to a supermarket.
