Beer is delicious. Cocktails are delicious. Why not make a Beer Cocktail? Here are five beer cocktails that are perfect to enjoy during the summer or anytime you’re looking for a refreshing drink. Read through all five and let us know what your favorite recipe is in the comments below!
Summer Hoedown
This beer cocktail puts two of summer’s best ingredients together – cold beer and watermelon for one our favorite beer cocktails. Here’s how to make this creation:
Ingredients:
- 1 watermelon, seeds & rind removed, cut into large pieces
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 cup cherry liqueur
- 4 cold bottles wheat beer like Hoegaarden
Directions:
- Put watermelon in a blender and blend until liquefied. Set juice aside from pulp by pouring mixture through a strainer into a seperate container. Add sugar to juice and stir until combined. Refrigerate for 1 hour to chill.
- Combine watermelon juice, liqueur and beer in a large container and gently stir to combine.
- Enjoy!
Lemon Shandy
Sure you can buy premade Shandy, but make your own and it’ll taste fresher and be more true to the traditional refreshing style!
Ingredients:
- 6 bottles lager beers (try New Glarus Two Women or Pilsner Urquell)
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- Lemon juice from 4 lemons
Directions:
- In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until cool. (This is simple syrup – you can also buy a premade mix.)
- In a large container, combine the syrup mix and lemon juice. Add in beer and stir gently to combine.
- Pour into glasses and garnish with a lemon slice. Enjoy!
Chelada Beer Cocktails
Go South of the border and enjoy a drink that’s great with spicy Mexican food! Chelada’s are refreshing and smooth drinks, but if you’re looking for the original, you need a Michelada, made with hot sauce and tomato juice. Rumor has it that a Michelada is an excellent hangover remedy, so if you overindulge in these beer cocktails, you might want to make a Michelada to recuperate!
Ingredients:
- 6 bottles Mexican beer like Dos XX or Corona
- 3 Limes, quartered
- Coarse Salt or flavored salt like Salt Limon
Directions:
- Moisten the rim of a glass with a lime quarter and salt the rim with the coarse salt.
- Squeeze juice from a lime quarter into each glass, and add beer.
Black Velvet Beer Cocktail
When it comes to beer cocktails, perhaps the first one invented was the Black Velvet. From the Guinness website: “This famous drink was invented in 1861 at Brook’s Club in London. Prince Albert had died, everyone was in mourning. The story goes that the steward at the club, overcome with the emotion of the occasion, ordered that even the champagne should be put into mourning and proceeded to mix it with Guiness. The taste was so delicious the Black Velvet quickly became extremely popular.”
Ingredients:
- Guinness
- Brut Sparkling Wine
Directions:
- Fill a champagne flute half full with Guinness.
- Put a spoon on the side of the flute, and pour the sparkling wine into the glass until filled.
- Enjoy!
Hangman’s Blood
The most foreboding (and potent) of all of our beer cocktails, the Hangman’s Blood was made famous by Richard Hughes in his 1929 novel A High Wind in Jamaica. When combined, this is quite the refreshing drink, but be warned, you might want to stick to only one at a time!
Ingredients:
- 1 shot Gin
- 1 shot Rum
- 1 shot Whiskey
- 1 shot Brandy
- 1 shot Port
- 4 shots (6 oz.) Guinness
- Sparkling Wine
Directions:
- Add all five shots to a pint glass.
- Pour in Guinness.
- Fill to top with Champagne.
- Enjoy!
Those are our five beer cocktails – what’s your favorite? Do you have a great recipe for beer cocktails that you want to share? Let us know in the comments below, and share this article with your friends – they may make you beer cocktails the next time you come over!
Image credits: Summer Hoedown www.chow.com, Lemon Shandies, www.marthastewart.com, Chelada www.muybuenocookbook.com, Black Velvet www.wikipedia.org, Hangman’s Blood from www.tinypic.com
