Beer cocktails are not exactly my jam; I’m the kind of purist that enjoys tasting a beer the way the brewer intended. But when you’re stuck inside for long enough, you start asking questions that require answers.
What’s a beer cocktail? Any beer you mix with something else, I suppose. A shandy (beer and lemonade) is probably rightly called a cocktail. I usually think of a beer cocktail as mixing beer and spirits.
My go-to beer cocktail is a Belgian trippel with a bit of gin. The gin’s floral and herbal qualities get to dancing with the trippel’s subtle floral notes until you have a lovely little party going.
The other day, however, I got to thinking that my Revolution Freedom of Speach, a session sour ale with peaches, could be a promising base for a new beer cocktail. To the beer lab!
Well, the kitchen, anyway.
The Sour Peach Beer Cocktail Experiment
I chose three spirits for my experiment: a gin, a tequila, and a scotch. I wouldn’t say it was an entirely successful experiment, but I learned some things—and I finished all the cocktails, so it wasn’t that bad.
For purposes of the beer cocktail experiment, I used a standard ratio:
- 0.5 ounces spirit
- 3 ounces of beer
Peach Sour & Gin
Someone at the Evanston Binny’s recommended Roku Gin to me as a nice sipper. And it is. It’s got plenty of character, but you do need to sip on it and enjoy to really appreciate it.
In the sour beer cocktail it worked wonderfully. Imagine putting your face into a peach tree, the sweetness of the fruit surrounded by a bed of flowers.
Remake Score: 8/10
Peach Sour & Tequila
I had some Olmeca Altos Reposado Tequila on hand, which we’ve enjoyed in margaritas.
Based off the smell alone, I thought this was going to be amazing. However, the tang of the tequila, which always tastes a little limey to me, anyway, does fight against the sour. This may be too fruity and herbal a tequila for this situation, or maybe it would work better in a different sour.
Remake Score: 6/10
Peach Sour & Scotch
I won’t claim to know much about single malt whisky, but I enjoy a smoked malt. I found this Signatory Vintage Highland Single Malt, Ardlair 2011, on the clearance rack at the Evanston Binny’s.
There may be something I’m not getting about this, but I cannot drink this straight—it is 63.5% ABV, after all. I’ve had some success with a kind of old fashioned: simple syrup, Curaçao, bitters and orange bitters, and club soda.
This was actually the genesis of the whole peach sour beer cocktail concept. I figured, I like grilled peaches, so the smoky character of the scotch should work well.
Well…
If the tequila and sour were pulling in opposite directions, the scotch and the sour pull on alternate axes. The tartness of the sour does not work well with the smoke, even if the aroma is promising. It’s like the sour is pulling vertically while the smoke pulls horizontally.
Remake Score: 2/10
Results: The Best Peach Sour Beer Cocktail
Perhaps it comes as no surprise that the peach sour and gin cocktail tasted best. Gin’s flavor profiles depends a lot on the botanicals rather than the congeners or the base liquid (to put things simply, anyway). They blend better with the botanical qualities of the beer.
I can see trying other tequilas, but I don’t imagine I’ll mix scotch into a sour again.
Okay, your turn: Can you come up with a winning sour beer cocktail?
If you’re a brewer looking to promote your own beers, in a cocktail or otherwise, hit me up and we can talk marketing strategy.
