I’ve always felt quite suspect of beer cocktails. If I want a cocktail, I’ll have a cocktail…and if I want a beer, I’ll have a beer. No use mixing the two, right?
Survey Says?!
(EHHHHHHHHHH!!)
Wrong.
Just a few days back, inspired by a beer cocktail from the House of 1000 Beers in New Kensington (…near Pittsburgh, PA…), I made the following:
Picksburgh Punkin Pie
[Be careful, friends, this is delicious in a very dangerous way. Like remember the first amazing Long Island Iced Tea you ever had? And then after two you would be seeing not double, but quadruple? That. And yes, it’s Picksburgh. With an H. Don’t bug me, ya jagoffs.]
1 bottle Blockhouse Brewing Pumpkin Ale, straight outta Latrobe (“LAY-trobe,” yinz guys.) (This beer is delicious and has a sweetness that no other Pumpkin Ale I’ve ever tried has achieved. Additionally, it’s 7% ABV, so big, but not huge.)
1 ounce/shot Maggie’s Farm spiced rum or Wigle landlocked spiced…or really whatever your “go to” spiced rum happens to be. (I like to keep it in the ‘burgh, yinz know what I’m sayin’?!)
1-2 dashes citrus or chocolate bitters (Pittsburgh = Wigle pomander orange or Wigle mole)
A splash, or more, of ginger beer (“Jamaica’s Finest” is a go-to. Made by? The Natrona [“NAY-trona” for locals] Bottling Company.)
Enough ice cubes to fill the vessel (I used a pint glass for this. Just go big. Or go home. Or if you’re already home, then the phrase kind-of falls apart. Go big or go somewhere that you’re not. Fuck it, use a big glass, will ya?!)
NOTE: You can make this drink into a Kentucky Pumpkin Pie by switching out the Blockhouse Ale for “Kentucky Pumpkin Barrel Ale” and the Pittsburgh-produced booze with “Wild Turkey Spiced.” Or, you can make whatever your little heart desires with some form of gourd beer and spiced spirit. Go wild, yinz guys! (Or y’all, depending on your locale)
Then today, with only one beer remaining in my refrigerator and a hankering for another beer cocktail, I made another:
Maple J. Fox
[In my house it’s often like “Chopped,” but perhaps we’d call this competition, “Mixed.” I had what I had, and knowing that Alex P. Keaton is an Irish Canadian…well…there you have it. Note, this is a two-drink recipe. Or one big-ass mug, ya hosers. If you can’t handle the temperature, perhaps you might get oot of the kitchen, eh? Not to be rude or nothin’, I’m just sayin’, ya know?]
1 can of Wexford Irish Cream Ale (Distribute this equally into two pint glasses. Let the head settle. That’s what she said.)
1 ounce/shot Crown Royal Maple (This is a really affordable and lovely flavored whiskey. It has a mild sweetness and a fairly accurate maple flavor. Now, if you don’t have this, here’s an alternate option. 1 shot of whatever whiskey you have and a half shot of maple syrup. If you don’t have whiskey, what the hell are you doing? But really, you could use vodka with maple syrup too. I guess. Vodka…fire water…a flavorless hangover waiting to happen. But hey…you do you, boo.)
1 dash chocolate bitters (If you don’t have chocolate bitters, you can use any bitters, but then also squeeze in like a teaspoon of chocolate syrup. Why? Because…chocolate syrup!)
A few good ice cubes (You can’t handle the truth.)
Fill to the top with premium ginger beer (I used “Barritt’s” for this one. Barritt’s, for those interested, when mixed with Gosling’s Black Seal Rum, bitters and lime, makes a “Dark and Stormy,” which is the national drink of Bermuda. It’s all kinds of delicious.)
So…there you have it. Several amazing beer cocktails. People, I mean it, a beer cocktail is an epiphany. Make them.
-G
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