Long before craft beer became obsessed with pastry stouts, smoothie sours, and barrel-aged liquid desserts, there was Farrell’s.
If you grew up in Tacoma, or anywhere fortunate enough to possess one of those striped, gloriously over-caffeinated temples to sugar, Farrell’s wasn’t merely an ice cream parlor. It was childhood theater. Red-and-white stripes everywhere. Brass rails. Candy counters engineered by people who clearly held stock in cavities. Birthday parties accompanied by enough noise and spectacle to convince a seven-year-old they had briefly become minor royalty. You entered for ice cream and exited carrying a sugar high powerful enough to alter local weather patterns.
The details have blurred with time. The candy. The suspenders. The towering parfait glasses. The suspiciously endless optimism. But one image remains remarkably intact: vanilla milkshakes overflowing their glasses, sliding down the sides in slow-motion acts of dairy excess. Were they actually good? Memory offers no reliable testimony. Then again, quality was never really the point. Wonder was the point. Sweetness was the point. The possibility that something delightfully ridiculous might arrive at your table was verhy much the point.
Which brings us to National Vanilla Milkshake Day, a holiday that feels almost suspiciously specific until you realize vanilla has been quietly running the dessert world for centuries. It is the bass line beneath countless pleasures, the humble flavor that somehow makes everything around it sound better. Brewers discovered this long ago. Add vanilla to stout, porter, barleywine, cream ale, or any number of experimental concoctions and suddenly the beer acquires echoes of milkshakes, bakeries, custards, campfire treats, and childhood afternoons that seemed to stretch forever.
Saturday’s Peaks & Pints Vanilla Milkshake Flight celebrates that particular magic. No candy counter. No striped booths. No birthday sirens. Just five beers infused with enough vanilla character to transport you back to a simpler era when happiness arrived in a tall glass, dripped down the sides, and required absolutely no explanation.
Peaks & Pints Vanilla Milkshake Flight
Mother Earth Brew Co. Nitro Cali Creamin’
5% ABV | Nitro Vanilla Cream Ale | Vista, California
If National Vanilla Milkshake Day had an official house beer, it might look suspiciously like Mother Earth Brew‘s Nitro Cali Creamin’. Soft cascades of nitrogen transform an already inviting cream ale into something remarkably close to a soda-fountain memory, carrying aromas of Madagascar vanilla bean, sweet cream, and a whisper of caramel malt. The texture glides across the palate with cloud-soft ease, while a surprisingly crisp backbone keeps the sweetness from lingering too long.
Old Stove Hell Hawk
7.2% ABV | Coconut Vanilla Pastry Stout | Seattle, Washington
Coconut arrives first, toasted and aromatic, like someone opening a bakery door on a rainy Seattle afternoon. Dark chocolate follows close behind, joined by vanilla cream, gentle roast, and hints of coffee that provide structure beneath the dessert-like charm. Rather than collapsing into sweetness, the stout maintains admirable balance, allowing each flavor to reveal itself at an unhurried pace. Old Stove‘s Hell Hawk tastes like a chocolate-dipped coconut confection that somehow acquired a tap handle and an excellent sense of timing.
Sig Brewing Velvet Orchard
11% ABV | Imperial Stout | Tacoma, Washington
The first impression is vanilla, though not the ice cream variety. This is bakery vanilla, oak-kissed vanilla, vanilla woven through bourbon barrels and family recipes. Tonka beans and amburana wood contribute notes of cinnamon pastry and warm spice, while roasted hazelnuts, dark chocolate, and dried persimmon create remarkable depth. The collaboration between Sig Brewing and Odd Otter Brewing moves with quiet confidence, the blend of barrel-aged and patiently conditioned stout unfolding in layers that feel both decadent and deeply familiar. Every sip suggests somebody’s grandmother secretly aged her dessert cabinet in bourbon barrels.
Perennial Vanilla Abraxas
11.5% ABV | Imperial Stout with Vanilla, Cacao, Cinnamon & Chiles | St. Louis, Missouri
Not every vanilla beer wants to be a milkshake. Some prefer a little mystery. Here, creamy vanilla threads itself through dark cacao, roasted malt, cinnamon, and ancho chile, transforming what could have been a straightforward stout into something far more intriguing. The chile character never shouts; it glows quietly beneath the surface, adding warmth and dimension rather than heat. Perennial‘s Vanilla Abraxas drinks like Mexican hot chocolate reimagined by someone with access to an imperial stout and no interest whatsoever in moderation.
Põhjala Tiramisu Bänger
12.5% ABV | Imperial Stout | Tallinn, Estonia
Some desserts politely conclude a meal. Põhjala‘s Tiramisu Bänger seems intent on replacing the entire menu. Espresso-soaked cocoa, mascarpone cream, vanilla, and dark chocolate gather in rich layers that feel lavish without becoming cumbersome. Coffee bitterness provides shape and direction, cutting through the sweetness with impeccable timing, while roasted malt anchors everything beneath the confectionary splendor. The finish lingers like the final conversation in a candlelit café after everyone has agreed they should have left an hour ago. Somewhere between tiramisu, vanilla milkshake, and imperial stout, this beer discovers there was never much reason to choose.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
