Red Robin, being the fine dining establishment that they are, announced this week that as part of their Oktoberfest menu, they will have an Oktoberfest ice cream shake made with Sam Adams Oktoberfest beer. Jokes aside, this is actually a really good idea, and it’s kind of surprising that more beer centric restaurants don’t already offer beer milkshakes.

Both Holsteins in the Cosmopolitan and Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay offer great burgers and alcoholic milkshakes to pair with them. But despite the great selection of beers that both these restaurants offer, those milkshakes use sugary, artificial liqueurs and syrups. Yard House does at least offer beer ice cream floats, another dessert option that doesn’t get enough attention.

Ice cream is already sweet enough as it is, so there’s no need to add more sugar. Beer offers the opportunity to add additional flavor with little additional sweetness, making for a very well balanced dessert.

I prefer to drink my beet unadulterated, but I have hosted events where I served ice cream floats made with vanilla ice cream and either Young’s Double Chocolate Stout or Lindeman’s Framboise. Both were well received. I prefer using framboise, the tartness contrast well with the ice cream. Blending chocolate stout with chocolate ice cream is also delicious. The dark, bitter roasted malts accentuate the chocolate ice cream nicely.