Beer is good onto itself, so why mess with it? Because the world is filled with strange concoctions and curiosity demands it. Plus adding ingredients to beer boosts the complexity of the flavor, making it taste even better.
The formula for making beer cocktails, also known as beertails, is simple. Combine beer with one or two ingredients and you have the makings of a beer cocktail. So long as you exercise some restraint and don't guzzle them down, feel free to have more than one. The concoctions are the ideal beverage for informal social gatherings and the experimental boozehound.
Black and Tan

Photos: Enrique Gili
Yields: 2 drinks
Ingredients
- 16 oz. stout or porter, preferably Guinness Drought
- 16 oz. pale ale, preferably Bass
- Hold pint-sized glass at an angle. Gently pour 8 oz. ale into glass.
- Place glass upright on countertop, insert a tablespoon upside down into glass, so the rounded tip touches the foam. Gently pour stout into glass so that it cascades down spoon along side of glass.
Ginger Drop

Yields: 1 drink
Ingredients
- 1 piece crystallized ginger
- Ice cubes
- 12 oz. ginger beer, preferably Reeds
- 1 shot ginger-infused vodka
- Angostura bitters
- Drop crystallized ginger into tall glass. Add ice cubes. Gently pour ginger beer into glass, then vodka. Add a dash or two of bitters and stir.
Mechelada

Yields: 1 drink
Ingredients
- 12 oz. Mexican beer, such as Pacifica, Corona
- 2 oz. tomato juice
- 1 ice cube
- 1 lime, quartered
- 1 tbs. sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
- 2 dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco sauce
- Place salt and chili pepper on saucer. Rub rim of tall glass with section of lime.
- Invert glass over sauce so salt clings to glass. Add ice to glass and fill with beer, add Worcestershire, hot sauce, 1-teaspoon lime juice. Gently stir, adding a wedge of lime to garnish.
Snakebite

Yields: 1 drink
Ingredients
- 8 oz. hard apple cider
- 8 oz. lager
- Pour cider and beer into pint-sized glass.
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