Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

5 Cocktail-Inspired Beers From Craft Brewers

Pat Evans
By

Craft beer is hot. Cocktails are hot. Why not put the two together?

It’s not unusual for breweries to experiment with taste (never mind that we just wrote about beers going back to “beer flavor”). With so many possible flavors and so many craft projects trying to put out a unique brew, it only makes sense that some have turned to the cocktail world for inspiration. Perennial Artisan Ales produced a whole series of beers based on cocktails and Brooklyn Brewery made the superb Improved Old Fashioned. At the 2018 Craft Brewers Conference, a speaker addressed the idea of cocktail brews to help draw in new customers.

Recommended Videos

Here are some of the best cocktail-inspired beers that evoke those mixed-drink nuances.

Ballast Point Moscow Mule

Moscow Mule

Ballast Point Moscow Mule Beer

Few cocktails are as refreshing as a Moscow Mule and there’s nothing like a cold beer on a hot day — what if you could have both? The kettle-soured base of this beer provides a little zip while the lime zest and ginger resemble a Moscow Mule. Pour it into a copper mug with crushed ice and many would be fooled.

Related

Boulevard Sazerac X Rye-on-Rye

Sazerac

Boulevard Sazerac X Rye-on-Rye
Boulevard Brewing Company/Facebook

Rye-on-Rye is just one of the many exquisite beers Kansas City’s Boulevard Brewing Co. makes and sometimes the brewery adds in a  twist on the beer for an even more special release. Rye-on-Rye X Sazerac is a take on the famous New Orleans cocktail. Boulevard threw in spice and lemon peel to mimic bitters and aged the brew in Templeton Rye barrels.

Flying Dog Mimosa Beer

Mimosa

Flying Dog Mimosa Beer

Although Flying Dog has a history of cocktail-inspired brews, like the Mint Julep Ale, let’s leave spirit influence behind for a second and look at the classic brunch beverage: the mimosa. Flying Dog makes this beer with a Champagne yeast to give it some sparkle, as well as orange peel and citrusy Citra hops.

Anderson Valley G&T Gose

Gin and Tonic

anderson valley brewing company g and t gose
Anderson Valley Brewing Company/Facebook

Anderson Valley helped mainstream gose, the slightly tart, but ultra refreshing beer style. The California brewery also has thrown in some variations on gose, like the Briney Melon, Blood Orange, and Framboise Rose. For the G&T, Anderson Valley added lemon peel, juniper, lemongrass, and grains of paradise, replicating that gin-and-tonic-like freshness of summer.

Short’s Bloody Beer

Bloody Mary

shorts brewing bloody beer

Michigan’s Shorts Brewing is no stranger to making bizarre experimental beers. Micheladas are common, but this brewery set out to craft something more like a Bloody Mary in brew form. A double golden beer fermented with tomato puree, horseradish, black peppercorns, dill, and celery seed, this beer has all the fixings (except maybe the bacon).

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Pat Evans
Pat Evans
Beverage Writer
Pat Evans is a writer based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, focusing on food and beer, spirits, business, and sports. His full…
Super Bowl of Beers: The Best Brews from San Francisco and Kansas City
2020 super bowl beers best of san francisco kansas city fieldwork feature

While the highly anticipated ads may tell you otherwise, what you drink this Super Bowl Sunday doesn’t have to be generic suds. In fact, you can drink some great stuff from in and around the two cities represented in this year’s matchup.

As the Kansas City Chiefs get set to take on the San Francisco 49ers, another rivalry comes to life — that of craft beer from the two American cities. We’ve picked three of our favorites from the Bay Area and the city that sits in two states to suit up and fetch a W in the name of beer excellence.

Read more
2 New Whiskey-Beer Collaborations to Drink Now
brooklyn four roses

Wintertime is the season for dark beers like stout and porter, and beer that has been aged in a whiskey barrel offers a particularly warming sensation with added notes of oak, vanilla, and spice. There are two new barrel-aged beers available just in time for the holidays, both from craft breweries that have collaborated with some top-tier whiskey distilleries.

First up is the brand-new Barrel-Aged Baltic Porter from Harpoon Brewery, which has locations in Boston and Vermont. Not too far from the Vermont facility is the WhistlePig distillery, so it made perfect sense for the two companies to work together on this new beer. They decided to take the brewery's already successful Baltic Porter and age it in WhistlePig rye whiskey barrels for a period of time. The resulting beer is sweet and malty, with hints of vanilla, baking spice, and dried fruit that pop throughout each sip. According to Dan Kenary, CEO and co-founder of Harpoon, the plan was to reintroduce this beer with what he calls a special edge. “We thought, what better way to foster innovation than to partner with our neighbors at WhistlePig," he said in a press release, "bringing our brewers and their talented distillers together for a meaningful and delicious collaboration.”

Read more
Merrell and Dogfish Head Team Up to Make Beer and Trail-Running Shoes
Merrell Dogfish Head Sea Quench Shoes

You know why a beer tastes so good after you mow the lawn, right? It's because beer tastes so good at all times. But also because beer is packed with vitamins and minerals that your body needs and craves all the more after you have been out there sweating in your yard.

And what also leads to a lot of sweating? Trail running. It follows, then, that beer will also taste great after this most excellent form of exercise. But don't grab just any brew after you log those overland miles, instead crack open a beer from Dogfish Head that's so perfect for après trail running that Merrell, a company noted for its excellent trail running shoes, just had to be a part of it.

Read more