beer cocktail.

Beer and spirits have always been happy bar mates, not infrequently in front of the same imbiber. That said, each tends to be looked upon with wariness, especially by its own respective adherents, when someone suggests their combination into a single drink. The image of a frat party looms, perhaps unfairly. Simple beer and spirit combinations are not entirely without pedigree, from the Pop-In of 1600s England (the spirits apparently “popped into” a mug of ale) to various combinations of porter and gin. A favorite of mid-twentieth century-America, the Depth Charge featured an actual full shot glass of whisky sent plummeting to the bottom of a beer mug. See Boilermaker.

If these concoctions are found wanting, a more favorable history may be found within the realm of classical punch, where beer was used in a few classic recipes. One Ale Punch recipe from 1862 naturally shows ale as the lead ingredient, followed into the bowl by white wine, brandy, capillaire (maidenhair fern syrup), lemon juice, grated nutmeg, and a bit of toasted bread. The tasty Billy Dawson’s Punch (1863) combined stout, rums of different characters, decidedly funky arrack, cognac, lemons, and demerara sugar. See punch.

The past two centuries have spawned less complex combinations of varying popularity. The Black Velvet (stout and champagne) sounds worrying on its face but can be very pleasant when made with excellent beer and wine. See Black Velvet. The Michelada, a popular “folk drink” from Mexico, blends beer over ice with lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and soy sauce or various “oriental seasonings,” with many variations coming to vaguely resemble the Bloody Mary. See Michelada and Bloody Mary. The Calgary Red Eye or Red Beer, now largely faded from the scene, is a simple blend of beer and tomato juice. The German Radler (cyclist) is a blend of pilsner and lemonade and, as the name suggests, is considered a sort of sports drink.

Whether these latter examples, which omit spirits, are really cocktails per se, they are certainly mixed drinks, and it makes sense to speak of them here. The modern professional mixologist may not reject these older drinks, but newer inventions are more likely to use beer more thoughtfully. When beer cocktails truly work, it is almost always where beer is used as a unique ingredient rather than as an ersatz replacement for seltzer water or sparkling wine. For example, stouts, which feature roasted malts that impart strong chocolate and coffee flavors to the beer, can be used to bring those flavors to a cocktail. India pale ales (IPAs), which are built around bitterness and bold citrus-like aromatics, can row in well with bitters and lend a boost to citrus zest. Newly popular “sour” beer styles such as the mildly acidic Berliner weisse, the slightly salty gose, or the zingy, fruity new Florida weisse style are able to play very well with all manner of spirits, sometimes replacing citrus juices.

Beer, which has very different foaming properties than sparkling water or wine, can be difficult to use to finish cocktails, even when the flavor combinations are pleasant. Beer-based foams, if not stabilized by ingredients such as egg whites, tend to start well, but many break down quickly in an unsightly fashion. As a result, in some cocktails the beer is degassed before mixing. Jim Meehan, of the influential New York cocktail bar PDT, has created an excellent modern classic in the Black Flip. It combines imperial stout, dark rum, an egg (the defining ingredient of a flip), and demerara syrup, shaken with ice into an egg nog–like creamy drink and topped with freshly grated nutmeg. Balanced, rich, and undeniably tasty, it is the quintessential modern beer cocktail, where the omission of the beer would ruin the very point of the drink. As the craft beer culture and modern mixology barrel forward on parallel tracks, it is to be expected that we’ll see other new classics rise from behind the best bars of the day.

*Recipe (The Black Flip): Combine in shaker 60 ml Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, 45 ml blackstrap rum, 15 ml demerara sugar syrup, and 1 egg. Swirl to release carbonation, dry shake without ice, shake again with ice, strain into a fizz glass, and grate nutmeg over the top.Bevill, A. V. Barkeeper’s Ready Reference. St. Louis: A. V. Bevill, 1871.

Oliver, Garrett. The Oxford Companion to Beer*. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.

Thomas, Jerry. How to Mix Drinks. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1862.

By: Garrett OliverSee Boilermaker.See punch.See Black Velvet.See Michelada, Bloody Mary.see other new classics rise from behind the best bars of the day.