YOU MAY SPOT A SURPRISING “adult” dessert on more menus around the region this summer. A beer float is a grown-up twist on the traditional summer classic—smooth ice cream (the creamier the better) in this case paired with a hearty brew. Stout or porter seem to be the preferred choices, possibly because they often have a milky-sweet flavor from the milk sugar (lactose) used in brewing, and many already have distinct, dessert-like overtones of chocolate or coffee. (With its inherent fruit flavors, cider, too, is a natural fit for a lighter version.)

A hard-to-beat combination for a homemade version is local stout and chocolate ice cream. Here’s a sampling of other heady floats we’ve spotted around the Valley:

At The Hop (Beacon), where draft selections from the region and around the world rotate frequently, try the stout-of-the-day with coffee-toffee ice cream. Mill House Brewing Company (Poughkeepsie) serves its signature Velvet Panda stout with vanilla ice cream and molasses sugar cookies. At Prohibition River (Nyack) it’s Young’s Double Chocolate Stout and ice cream while The Tapp (Tarrytown) prefers a stout-gelato float. Rock and Rye Tavern (New Paltz) keeps it local with Butternuts Moo Thunder Stout and Jane’s vanilla ice cream. It’s summertime and the floating is easy.