Wednesday, July 28 2021 10:38

Beer Cocktails?

Written by Jamie Robinson, Boxcar Brewing Company
Reprinted from August 2015

Yup, perfect for summer sipping.

In my younger and more incorrigible years, my relationship with beer—and alcohol in general—was focused primarily on availability. It wasn’t a question of what to drink, but simply if I’d be drinking. Ah, the days when evenings were spent in the comfort of a friend’s basement slowly sipping on a bottle of fine whiskey or in a local field frantically attempting to empty all 24 cans before being chased away by an irate farmer.

One drink I remember from that period was what we called “pomosas” or poor man’s mimosas. This beer cocktail was a creative concoction of malt liquor cut with the cheapest orange juice available. Perhaps it was our attempt to bring some class to 40 ounces of flavorless booze, or more likely legitimizing daytime drinking by adding a breakfast ingredient to our early morning imbibing. Whatever the reasoning, that was my first and crudest exposure to the wonderful world of beer mixology.

As the palate matures, with it comes a greater appreciation for flavor combinations. Experimenting with both subtle and bold ways to manipulate brewed beverages opens up a world of possibilities.

While I don’t claim to be a professional mixologist, nor believe there’s a right or wrong way to enjoy your favorite beverages, I do want to share some of my mature experiences as a professional brewer and shed light on some options for tasty beer cocktails—their origins, popularity and recipes—with a focus on summer sipping.

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