A new cocktail trend filtering through bars across the foothills has some beer aficionados raising their eyebrows.
Called “beer cocktails,” mixologists and bartenders are starting to put their own trendy twist on traditional cocktails, by adding beer instead of, or in addition to, hard liquor for a fresh spin on the classics.
“They’re catching on more and more,” said Damien Robinson, managing partner and bartender at Original Joe’s Restaurant in Okotoks.
Mixing beer with other drinks is not a new idea. Most people are familiar with the Shandy, a half-and-half combination of beer with Sprite, 7-Up or Ginger Ale, or the similar Kalahari Shandy, a mixture of beer and cola.
However, it is only recently beer cocktails have started to foam up on drink menus in bars throughout North America.
Okotoks is not one to buck the trend.
Robinson said he noticed beer cocktails first start popping up on drinks menus, first in Calgary and now in Okotoks, within the past year — around the same time Original Joe’s first started selling the blended brews.
“We’re just trying to be a forerunner within (the trend),” said Robinson, explaining the company’s marketing team decided to create their own beer cocktail concoctions based on customer demand.
Since beer cocktails first appeared on the drinks menu at OJ’s, Robinson said they are starting to stir up customer interest, although some people are still wary of sampling the novelty mix.
“Our main target is to get into those trendier drinks and mix them with our house beers,” he said.
Listed as “hybrids” on the menu, some of the beer cocktails at Original Joe’s include the Shipwreck, a blend of Malibu and house-brewed Honey Brown Lager, or the Dr. Pepper, which combines amaretto with Coke and house-brewed Blonde Lager.
As for which brews make for the best cocktails, Robinson said it depends on the kind of beer cocktail you’re seeking.
“It all tends to be based on flavour,” he explained.
For example, the Joe-lius Caesar is OJ’s take on the popular Caesar, a blend of Clamato juice mixed with their house-brewed Blonde Lager as a substitute for vodka.
“For me, it’s always been a golf-course type of drink where you mix a can of Canadian or a Budweiser and you mix it with a Caesar, and that makes a Beaesar,” explained Robinson. “For most people, it works better with a light beer. The flavours of a darker beer just wouldn’t go as well.”
As for the key to mixing the perfect beer cocktail, other than a balance between bitter and sweet, Robinson said anything goes.
“There are no rules,” he said. “Whatever fits, whatever sells and whatever people enjoy.”
The novelty of the beer cocktail means there are also no rules over who can order and enjoy the drink, he said.
Although cocktails tend be have a reputation as a “girly drink,” ever since the debut of a certain sassy Manhattan foursome famous for sipping on their fuchsia Cosmopolitan cocktails every week on HBO, Robinson said beer cocktails don’t specifically appeal to only men or women.
Asked whether adding beer to cocktails helps to break down that reputation, Robinson said it’s a “grey area.”
“We’ve had both girls and guys order them just to give them a try since they were introduced on our menu, so it’s really a preference thing,” he said.
Beer cocktails have also hopped up on the bar counters at Rylie’s Cattle Barn in Okotoks, where the cocktail craze is so new their two takes on the trend — the Beergarita and the Iceberg — are not even listed on the menu.
“This is definitely a new trend,” agreed Rob Bolton, owner of Rylie’s Cattle Barn Restaurant and Bar in Okotoks.
Made from a combination of Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale, Milagro tequila from Mexico, triple sec and lime juice, along with a salted rim and lime wedges, a Beergarita is a lighter take on the classic lime margarita on the rocks, rather than blended.
The Iceberg, on the other hand, consists of slushed lime-ice with any flavour of beer, usually based on the customer’s preference.
Bolton said beer cocktails are a fresh solution for female drinkers looking to try something new.
“The one thing I’ve noticed is that the traditional cocktails are going down,” he said. “When we first opened two and a half years ago, we used to sell all those drinks, but we hardly sell any anymore.
“Women will drink these beer cocktails, whereas many won’t drink beer.”
A summer favourite on hot patio-weather days, Bolton said beer cocktails, which substitute 40 per cent hard liquor for the much lighter single digit alcohol percentage in beer, are also a refreshing option when dehydration is a risk.
So when you are on the patio this summer, one can be a little adventurous by adding some flair to your regular lager and ale fare.
