Southern Tier and Perry's Ice Cream Launch Brownie Batter Imperial Ale

Southern Tier Brewing Co. and Perry's Ice Cream released Cheat Day Imperial Ale on March 16, a dessert-forward imperial ale clocking in at 8.6% ABV and modeled directly on Perry's Extra Indulgent Cheat Day ice cream, a flavor built from brown sugar ice cream with brownie batter swirls and pieces of brownie and cookie dough.

The beer translates that ice cream profile into the glass with rich brownie batter and cookie dough notes, brown sugar sweetness, and a hint of vanilla. "This beer is the perfect fit for our dessert series," said Brandon Hank, brand manager at Southern Tier. "We've been leaning into these big, bold flavors for a while now, and this collaboration is exactly what the series is all about."

Nichole Buryta, senior brand manager at Perry's Ice Cream, framed the release as a natural extension of the ice cream brand's identity. "Partnering with Southern Tier lets us take that experience beyond the scoop and into the glass," Buryta said. "It's a delicious way to treat yourself to something truly rich."

Cheat Day Imperial Ale is the fourth time the two western New York companies have collaborated, despite being based roughly 100 miles apart, Southern Tier in Lakewood, Chautauqua County, and Perry's in Akron, Erie County. Their previous releases ran in sequence: Vanilla Scoop Imperial Ale, then Orange Twist Imperial Ale, then last year's Cherry Pie Imperial Ale.

The beer is on tap at Southern Tier's five taproom locations in Lakewood, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Charlotte. Retail distribution is planned for March, though press materials did not specify individual retailers carrying the Cheat Day release. When Cherry Pie Imperial Ale rolled out through the same taproom network in a prior year, it landed at chains including Wegmans, Total Wine, Giant Eagle, Tops Markets, Walmart, and Sheetz across New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, giving a sense of Southern Tier's typical retail footprint for these collaborations.

Southern Tier has built a reputation around big, bold imperial ales, from the iconic Pumking to newer releases like French Toast. For the original Vanilla Scoop collab, VP of Operations Matt Dunn noted the brewery used Perry's signature vanilla and milk sugar to deliver what he called "a creamy full-bodied beer." Whether a similar direct ingredient integration was used for Cheat Day has not been confirmed in the available press materials.