There are a variety of beer cocktails existent in the world, from the Guinness and Blackcurrant served in pubs in Ireland to the Michelada of Mexico. A whole new wave of beer cocktails has been developed in recent years. Many of these may prove to be fads, but currently beer cocktails are being developed by many bartenders across the country.
First, let’s get some definitions straight. A beer that is mixed with liquor is a beer cocktail. A drink that consists of beer that is mixed with other non-liquor mixers is technically referred to as a shandy. Let’s start with a list of common beer cocktails that are served today:
Irish Car Bomb – This was probably the first beer cocktail I had ever heard of. The Irish Car Bomb is the classic mixture of Guinness and a shot that consists of either Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream, or a combination of both that is dropped into the pint of Guinness.
Boilermaker – This is more of a drink combo, but one that is often enough ordered that it is considered a type of drink. Boilermakers usually are beers served with a shot of whiskey, vodka, or tequila.
Sake Bomb – This is a beer drink in which a shot of Sake is poured into a pint of beer.
There are a lot of beer and beer combinations that border the line between shandy and beer cocktail. These are sometimes called blended beers.
Black and Tan – a blend of stout or porter with a lighter amber or brown ale (Guinness and Newcastle being the most common blend, in my experience).
Snakebite – an equal part mix of beer and cider.
Diesel or Snakebite and Black, a relative of the snakebite, which is a half pint of beer mixed with a half-pint of cider and then topped off with a dash of blackcurrant cordial.
Shandy – Beer that is mixed with some sort of lemonade or lemon flavored soda.
Shandys are often very sweet, and the type of citrus mixers vary slightly from country to country. For example, a shandy in the UK is mixed with carbonated lemonade, and in Australia, is mixed with citrus-flavored soda, like lemon-lime or 7-UP. This is what such sodas are called in Australia, while lemonade as Untied Staters think of it is called Lemon Squash.
Shandygaff – mixture of beer and ginger ale or ginger beer, coming again from the UK.
The Brass Monkey is one United States beer cocktail that gained some amount of fame from the Beastie Boys song named after it.
Brass Monkey – made by drinking the top off of a fo-tee (40 oz. Malt Liquor), and then filling that with orange juice. This drink could be referred to as the Po’ Man’s Mimosa, or Ghetto Mimosa.
One of the most famous beer cocktails in all the world is the Michelada. I am most familiar with the Micheladas made in Southern and Eastern Mexico, although the drink is made in most Latin-Speaking countries. Like the Shandy, the recipe varies from port to port.
Michelada – Beer, clamato, lime juice, salt, Worcestershire, and hot sauce, chile powder, or peppers.
The drink can end up tasting a lot like a bloody mary, but made with beer instead of vodka. This drink should always be made fresh. Although there are many commercially-produced micheladas these days, they pale in comparison to the flavors and customability of a freshly made michelada. Country by country, there are versions of this drink that also enter into the mix Fanta or other orange sodas, making those micheladas similar in a way to the shandy with its mix of citrus flavors.
Other interesting beer cocktails
Lychela – half a pint of Mexican beer mixed with 6 oz lychee juice, a whole lychee, and 1 oz lime juice with salt on the rim. Truly a taste sensation!
Fruit Stripes – Boulevard Tank 7, Rogers and Winters Apricot, lemon juice, and simple syrup to produce a complicated and sweet beverage.
Beer Fashioned – a play on the old fashioned, but with Avery White Rascal, Bulleit Rye, and orange juice.
Zeus’ Brother – a powerful beer cocktail that includes Great Divide’s Hades Ale, Broker’s gin, Pimms, lavender simple syrup, and lemon juice.
Hop-a-rita or IPA-a-rita – this drink blends a shot of reposado tequila with half a pint of IPA or Pale Ale, an ounce of lime juice, ice, and agave nectar to taste.
Bee Sting – Concoct this beer-cocktail version of the classic Screwdriver by mixing dark beer with orange juice.
Summer Ale – Mix frozen pink lemonade from concentrate with water, vodka, and beer. Serve over ice with a lemon or lime wedge. Pump up the flavor by using lime-infused beer and lemon-infused vodka.
Of course there are many more kinds of beer cocktail in the world, but really there are too many to go over here, such as the Refajo of Colombia, Panache of France, or the Tango of Belgium. Ultimately, the course of experimentation will guide the field of beer cocktails to great heights of flavor, I am assured.
