Ryan Travers
Ryan Travers, bar manager of Of Love & Regret Pub & Provisions, a Baltimore bar and restaurant that features fine beers and beer cocktails. www.OfLoveAndRegret.com
Cocktails that use beer as an ingredient aren’t new—some have been around for centuries. But beer cocktails are growing in popularity and being served in trendy bars around the country.
A well-chosen beer can enhance the complexity and flavor of a cocktail, not just provide filler such as water, tonic or soda.
Here, some of the best beer cocktails. Unless otherwise noted, each recipe makes one cocktail.
This drink calls for stout, a dark beer that’s made with roasted malt or roasted barley. Any stout will do, but Guinness is an appropriate and widely available option. The stout cuts the spiciness of the Bloody Mary and adds sweetness, depth and a nice roasted flavor.
4 ounces bottled Bloody Mary mix
2 ounces stout beer
2 ounces vodka
Combine the ingredients over ice, and stir well.
India Pale Ale (IPA), a light-to-amber-colored beer, adds flavor to the traditional gin-and-tonic and brings out the citrus notes of a fruity gin such as New Amsterdam or Ransom Old Tom—don’t use a dry London gin here.
2 ounces fruity gin (not dry gin)
3 ounces tonic water
¼ lime
3 ounces India Pale Ale (IPA)
Combine the gin and tonic water, squeeze in and add the lime, then top with the IPA.
A flip is a traditional drink—the thick, rich beverage was popular during America’s Colonial era. Use a hearty stout such as Guinness or any oatmeal stout.
1 Tablespoon molasses
2 ounces dark rum
10 ounces stout beer
Stir the molasses into the rum, then top with the stout.
Use a sour ale—a beer partially matured in oak casks that develops sour notes—such as Rodenbach or Rodenbach Grand Cru rather than the traditional ginger ale or club soda. This gives sangria a wonderful tart sweetness.
Note: You can use your favorite sangria recipe, and simply replace the ginger ale or club soda with one of the beers mentioned above.
1 bottle red wine
1 lemon
1 orange
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 ounces brandy
2 cups sour ale
Pour the wine into a pitcher, and cut the fruit into wedges. Squeeze the juice from those wedges into the pitcher, and then add the wedges themselves. Add the sugar and the brandy, stir, then chill. Add the beer before serving over ice. Makes about six servings.
A Belgian-style white ale called Stillwater Cellar Door works well, but Allagash White or other white ales are fine choices, too. White ale is made with wheat malt, which gives the beer a cloudy look.
3 to 4 fresh sage leaves
2 ounces favorite gin
½ lime, cut in wedges
2 ounces Belgian-style white ale
2 ounces club soda
“Muddle” the sage, gin and lime together—that is, use a pestle to press them into a slurry in the bottom of the mixing glass—then shake with ice and add the ale and club soda.
