Strangest brand extension yet: Girl Scout cookies and beer

Charlotte, North Carolina —There was a time when selling Girl Scout cookies meant hauling boxes from house to house. (I think I still have ridges in my fingers where the cardboard handles of those heavy boxes would cut into your hands. Thin Mints always sold out first, meaning you had to double back to your house, load up more and trudge out again. Good times.)

Then they moved to the supermarket model, setting up tables in front of busy stores and yelling themselves hoarse to move those cookies.

And now? We have brand extensions. Thus far, this year’s cookie season has brought us Girl Scout Cookie cereals from General Mills, in Thin Mint and Caramel Crunch flavors. Then a bakery in New Jersey added Girl Scout Cookie flavored doughnuts (Thin Mints, Samoas and Tagalongs).

What can we at The Charlotte Observer do to complete your total immersion in Girl Scout cookie season? We can share these:

Girl Scout cookie beer pairings.

The Brass Tap, a national franchise that includes a location in Charlotte’s SouthEnd, contacted us recently offering to suggest which Charlotte beer goes best with which cookies.

Now, yes, we were a little . . . perturbed at the notion. Scouting has a wholesome reputation. Should that be sullied by making the connection between cookies and an adult beverage no Girl Scout should drink until long after she sheds her badge-covered sash? Then again, they started it with the cereal.

Alison Hoesli, a marketing representative for the Brass Tap, says they first did the cookie-beer pairings last year and it was very popular.  Any complaints about the beer/cookie connection?  “Shockingly no,” she says.

Honestly, adults like Girl Scout cookies more than kids do.

So, on to the local pairings, suggested by Jaimal Patel of the Charlotte location of the Brass Tap:

Thin Mints: Birdsong Brewing Wake Up Porter. It uses locally roasted coffee beans for chocolate accents and hints of vanilla. (And Birdsong, at least, might fit with a bird-watching badge.)

Samoas: Old Mecklenburg Brewing’s Hornets Nest, which has a fresh, sweet quality to pair with caramel and toasted coconut.

Trefoils: Sycamore Brewing’s Sweet Potato Wheat. American wheat ale matches the buttery sweetness of a shortbread cookie.

Thanks-A-Lots: The Russian-style Imperial Stout Sexual Chocolate from Foothills Brewing Co. No comment.

Cranberry Citrus Crisps: Red Clay Ciderworks’ South End Sweet to go with the graham cracker and chocolate combination.

Tagalongs: Three Spirits Brewery’s oatmeal stout Sweet Memories, bringing its chocolate and caramel flavors to the classic peanut butter and chocolate cookie.

Please, just don’t tell us if you actually dunk them.

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Charlotte Observer
Kathleen Purvis