TN: Mixing beer with spirits: beertails.

Excerpted from my article on Portland Spirits Examiner:

(Jacob Grier teamed up with two other mixologists to work on developing some interesting combinations of beer and spirits.)

Jacob offered six beer-influenced cocktails, evenly divided between light and fruity and full-bodied, robust and dark.

The Dutch Devil is a lovely, light aperitif cocktail, with the intriguing complexities of Duvel Belgian Ale (one of the best!) married to the malty smoothness of Bols Genever Gin, and offset by the contrasting touch of sugars and bitters. Seems eminently natural served up in a tall flute champagne glass too. An excellent starter.

The Quatro Blanco is a quantum leap in another direction; it leads with a strong herbal/vegetal rush of aroma, a reflection of the mellow agave in the Herradura Reposado tequila, the sweet and intense thyme of the obscure and delightful Farigoule Provencal Thyme Liqueur and the soft floral and spice notes of the locally made Upright Brewing Four (a special release for restaurants, slightly different from the standard bottled version in that it is barrel aged and steeped with different botanicals).

This is a compelling cocktail, more intricate than one might think, and changing subtly as it sits in the glass. The distinct elements of the three ingredients---the tequila, the liqueur and the beer---retain their individual identities, but they also harmonize gently to create---quite literally---something that was not there before. Nicely done.

Brewer’s Bramble is another ‘change-up pitch’ in the cocktail lineup, veering over clearly into the fruit zone. It’s a simple---Jacob understands the power of simplicity in cocktails---and beautifully balanced combination of Damrak Dutch Gin, Clear Creek Blackberry Liqueur, and the brilliant addition of Bruery Hottenroth beer from Placentia, CA.

The Damrak provides the crisp juniper, the Clear Creek a piquant blackberry fruit, and the Hottenroth a defining finish of sour cherry and light cinnamon spice. Once again, each ingredient retains its specific identity, but all marry together in perfect balance. Amazingly fresh and lively, this would be a perfect light summertime splash of a cocktail, as suitable for a backyard party as gracing a white tablecloth in an upscale restaurant.

The Choke Van Roy stays in the fruit zone while hearkening back to the herbal and vegetal tone of the first two cocktails by blending Cherry Brandy with Cynar, that strangely compelling bitter liqueur made from artichoke (and when did you think you’d be drinking liquid artichokes---and liking it---when you were a child?), then balancing out the two contrasting flavors with a smooth, sour, and slightly bitter Cantillon, a gueuze lambic brew. Again, simplicity: the use of few ingredients, well chosen, and in perfect balance with each other. And this cocktail seems to fit nicely into that pantheon of classics such as the Manhattan and the Sidecar.

For the final two beertails, Jacob pulls out all the stops, releases all restraint, and creates two massive bruisers. Not for the faint of heart, or palate, these two have rich, deep, dark concentrated flavors. They are not for the wimpy.

The F*rburger (and I’m not touching that one; no way) is Jacob’s nod to bourbon whiskey on one hand and stout on the other, with a combination of Buffalo Trace bourbon and Chocolate Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout from the Great Divide Brewing Company, with the compelling and vibrant green Chartreuse herb liqueur to bring the two together. (Have you figured out Jacob’s style yet?). Big flavors in this drink, for sure, and all of them delicious, separately and together. This is a beautifully constructed cocktail.

But the Cascadian Revolution rules them all, at least in outright force of flavor. It’s the big bruiser, the over-the-top, no-holds-barred, statement-of-excess for Jacob’s foray into beertails. Deschutes Brewery's Hop In The Dark is the powerful center of this one, with the bittersweet orange (and cognac) of Grand Marnier, the bright, biting, fiery evergreen dazzlement of Clear Creek Douglas Fir eau-de-vie…and then the coup de grace of a drop of pure hop oil that dominates it all with its suffused, intense, overwhelming bitterness.


Warning, though: the hop oil might be a bit much for some. It really is intensely bitter, and the oil keeps it on the palate for a very long time and tends to wipe out other flavors. But if you like ‘em large and loud, this is the cocktail for you to try.

So if you're still skeptical of mixing beer with spirits, you might want to rethink it a bit. It can definitely be done, and done exceedingly well.

Full article, with pics, here: http://tinyurl.com/29oq4kt.

Thought-provoking article, Hoke.

So if you're still skeptical of mixing beer with spirits, you might want to rethink it a bit.

Have to type that I am a bit skeptical . . . or at least reluctant. When I enjoy a fantastic glass of muscadet, or riesling from the mosel, or priorat, or a dry or sweet loire chenin, the thought of blending it into a cocktail seems foreign. So it is with a kölsch, a saison, an imperial pale ale, a hefeweizen, or a lambic. My first inclination would be to consider beers that are somehow not 'balanced' to my taste as candidates for experimentation. But I'd say your article is good brew for thought on how masters of the trade can find those combinations that make their high-quality components sing.

But a better name than 'beertails', please!

Oh, trust me, Keith, I was skeptical as well. My wife even more so (she was echoing the "if the beer's good, why mess with it" refrain, which is a logical response, I think).

But since I've made some interesting cocktails using wine as an ingredient---and not "just" sherry and port, but still wines, both white and red, as well as champagne and prosecco and other bubblies---I had to at least keep an open mind about beer.

Plus, I've had good results from mixologists using egg whites, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and other things to enhance certain qualities in a cocktail....so why not beer?

Jacob, Ezra and Yetta did a really fine job, I thought, into at least opening me to the possibilities. A couple of the drinks, honestly, probably won't be on my gotta have list of faves...but then again a couple were really intriguing.

Take the Dutch Devil, for instance: a standard cocktail for years now, a perennial, is the champagne cocktail or the French 75. You could look at the Dutch Devil as doing nothing more than substituting an exceptionally good beer for the effervescent element.

And the Choke Van Roy---I really did see the classic elements of a Manhattan/Sidecar there, and the use of the Bruery Hottenroth was positively inspiring, as it added a wonderful sour whiplash of flavor right at the end that woke up the taste buds and called for another sip.

One of the biggest takeaways from this, oddly enough, was the reinforcement for me that tequila is a fantastic spirit base, and a wonderfully compliant mixer for cocktails, without losing its own identity in the mix. The seemingly fragile flavors of tequila (and of course I'm talking good tequila) assert themselves well, and don't get dominated by some other prominent flavors.

Another thing that's influencing the beer/spirits thing here in Portland is the amazing explosion of micro-breweries and micro-distilleries, and the number of people that are pushing the envelope in pretty much every direction. In the breweries alone, there is so much incredible experimenation----with exceptionally well-pleased audiences for it---that the creativity is astounding. Upright Brewery alone is doing some wonderful experimention with all kinds of spices (hot and sweet) and herbals, and flavorings like chocolate, and barrel aging and blending seemingly weird stuff together. If it doesn't work, they bury it and try something else; but an awful lot of the stuff does work. And when you get an aromatic beer---think of a saison on steroids--- it's natural to take that extra step and consider it as a flavor component in a cocktail.

Thanks for the link to the full article, Hoke. I'm going to share this with my son who is an aspiring bartender at a great restaurant. He often comes home and puts together many different combinations of things to find that perfect cocktail, most of which end up down the drain, but once in a while he concocts a real gem. Perhaps he'll get some new ideas after reading your work.

I don´t have to read this filth! Beertails are nothing but the lowest form of bartender pornography.

You should all be ashamed.

Bill

Have to type that I am a bit skeptical . . . or at least reluctant. When I enjoy a fantastic glass of muscadet, or riesling from the mosel, or priorat, or a dry or sweet loire chenin, the thought of blending it into a cocktail seems foreign. So it is with a kölsch, a saison, an imperial pale ale, a hefeweizen, or a lambic. My first inclination would be to consider beers that are somehow not 'balanced' to my taste as candidates for experimentation. But I'd say your article is good brew for thought on how masters of the trade can find those combinations that make their high-quality components sing.

I get your point. But one could say the same thing for spirits.

Have to type that I am a bit skeptical . . . or at least reluctant. When I enjoy a fantastic glass of muscadet, or riesling from the mosel, or priorat, or a dry or sweet loire chenin, the thought of blending it into a cocktail seems foreign. So it is with a kölsch, a saison, an imperial pale ale, a hefeweizen, or a lambic. My first inclination would be to consider beers that are somehow not 'balanced' to my taste as candidates for experimentation. But I'd say your article is good brew for thought on how masters of the trade can find those combinations that make their high-quality components sing.

I get your point. But one could say the same thing for spirits.

Hmmm, as one who likes drinking many, many liquors (tequila, gin, vodka, bourbon, scotch, even green chartreuse) by themselves (and neat, except for vodka, which I prefer icecold), the difference is that I can 'drink' beer and wine, whereas I can only sip liquors and liqueurs. If I'm thirsty, a cocktail makes liquor into a drink I can drink!

Hmmm, as one who likes drinking many, many liquors (tequila, gin, vodka, bourbon, scotch, even green chartreuse) by themselves (and neat, except for vodka, which I prefer icecold), the difference is that I can 'drink' beer and wine, whereas I can only sip liquors and liqueurs. If I'm thirsty, a cocktail makes liquor into a drink I can drink!

But I don't see how that has anything to do with diluting the quality or the purity of the expression (which I assumed was your original point). It seems more about your rate of consumption.

And I'm not even sure of that. Because how fast are you really drinking cocktails. How big are those gulps!