It’s the first Friday in May, time once again for Beer Blogging Friday. The topic for this month’s edition of The Session is Beer Cocktails – Beyond the Black and Tan. Hosted by Joe and Jasmine over on Beer at Joe’s.
I almost didn’t go through with this one. They dissed my favorite, the Radler*, right in the announcement post!
Plus, liquor in my beer? Seriously? What is this a frat party?
But, at the last minute I caved and decided to give it the old college try (pun intended).
Sticking with the theme, I didn’t actually go out and spend any money on this ‘challenge’. All of these ‘recipes’ were devised using the few liquors (mostly for cooking) I had already in the pantry and whatever homebrew I had in the kegerator.
Also, because research is important, I spent 15 minutes reading the wikipedia entry for beer cocktails.
And I’m starting this at 10:45 PM. On Thursday night.
So now that we know the rules of the game, feel free to play along at home and let’s get to mixing!
(All of these are a 1 oz shot of liquor in a 12 oz tumbler then filled with beer).
Witbier + Tanqueray Gin – Actually, not that awful. The juniper and “World’s Finest Botanicals” work pretty well with the coriander, black pepper and orange in the wit.
Witbier + Cointreau – Tastes like Orange Soda. Which could be kind of good if that’s your thing. The sorority girls will like it at least.
Witbier + Limoncello – Not so much. Next.
Schwarzbier + Christian Brothers VS Brandy - Aged on oak, so this could be good. And it is! The oak is coming through, but its pretty subtle. Might need 1.5 shots. Would work with a stout or porter too.
Schwarbier + Jim Beam Kentucky Whiskey – The Brandy version was good, so let’s give this a whirl. Again, not bad. Not as good as the brandy, but not awful.
Schwarzbier + Cointreau – This schwarzbier is a little chocolaty. Chocolate + Orange should be good, but this isn’t.
Ok, now I’m out of obvious combinations – so here comes the weird stuff. Also, I’m starting to not feel so good.
English Special Bitter + Gin – Interesting. The gin is dominant in the aroma, but it actually tastes pretty good. Needs a clever name, like a “Dirty Bishop”, or something.
Blonde Ale + Cointreau – Blonde Ales usually make a good base for a fruit beer. But not in this case, the witbier version was far superior.
Witbier + White Wine - Not bad, kind of a grapey-wit. Not quite grape soda, but not too far off from the earlier orange soda wit.
I figured this would be kind of a trainwreck, but it actually ended up being kind of fun. I don’t really drink liquor, mainly I find the alcohol is overpowering and annoying. But in this case the beer does a good job of taming the alcohol burn while still letting the aroma and flavor through. I might have to try this more often…
Now all that’s left is for someone to throw up and someone else to break something.
*Extra Credit – To make a Radler, use 50% real lemon soda (SanPellegrino or the like, not Sprite/7up or lemonade) and 50% of your favorite light German lager (Spaten, Paulaner or even Warsteiner).
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Hard to believe you’re able to move today let alone remember what you actually drank :)
Hey Jimmy – thanks for post. Sorry to dis the Radler (actually the way you say to make it is a lot better sounding then some I have had) – in the end we really just wanted to leave it open to let people do what they wanted – and boy you did – cheers to that.
Hah! Thanks for stopping by you two! If I’m completely honest I only sampled most of them. A few weren’t even drinkable….
They use Sprite for Radler in Germany, so you should be perfectly fine using that.