Classic Mexican cheladas have inspireda new wave of beer cocktails, including this sweet-heat version featuringmango syrup and chile.

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here doesn’t seem to be much call today in barsand restaurants for the rudimentary Red Eye (beerand tomato juice) or the Wine Cooler (wine withsparkling water or soda and fruit juice). But there’snothing wrong with the idea of mixing other flavors withbeer or wine to create drinks with new taste profiles. Infact, a small but significant move is afoot to incorporatethe two into contemporary cocktails.

BEER PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS

“[Beer is] a whole new palette of flavors to work with,” saysStephen Beaumont, author, with Brian Morin, of “TheBeerbistro Cookbook,” (Key Porter Books, 2009) and creatorof beer cocktails for the Beerbistro in Toronto, Canada.“Bartenders and mixologists have been playing around withall sorts of different culinary ingredients, making their ownshrubs and bitters, for instance, and completely ignoring thefact that we’re living amidst the greatest wealth of beerflavors and styles that our society has ever seen.”These flavors work perfectly in cocktail making, henotes, offering new directions and possibilities for blendedbeverages incorporating beer.And why not? Flavorful blends of beer are as old asbrewing itself. Kriek, a lambic-style Belgian brew, isfermented with sour cherries; framboise is similarly madeusing raspberries. Belgian wit beers are often served with alemon wedge to brighten the orange-peel-and-corianderpop of the brew. Other regional recipes call for adding adash of fruit syrup or liqueur to beer.As Beaumont tells it, there are basically three types of beer-based beverages: those made from a blend of two ormore beers; those served with an added ingredient or two;and the full-fledged cocktail in which beer is simplyanother, albeit important, ingredient.Stout has always been a good mixer: The Black Velvet,stout and Champagne, is a well-loved drink; newerversions mix stout with other regions’ sparkling wines orwith sparkling cider. The Black and Tan, made from stoutor porter and ale, is perhaps one of the best-known of beer’s two-way blends, and the lowly Shandy comes inmany varieties; most common are those made with ale orbeer and lemonade, ginger beer or even sorrel tea.But with the vast number of different brews availabletoday, crafting contemporary beer blends is within reachof any willing experimenter, and many mixologists usedistinctly flavored craft brews as one of many ingredientsin a modern cocktail concoction.

WINE’S WEALTH OF FLAVORS

The same is true of wine. The average American consumercan choose from a broader range of varietals, regions,ﬂavors and wine styles today than at any other time.“One of the beneﬁts of drinking wine cocktails is thatour reach now is so great,” says A.J. Rathbun, author of “Wine Cocktails” (The Harvard Common Press, 2009).“There’s a multinationalism of drinks out there — manymore types and varietals of wines available and many moretypes of ingredients to mix with them. You can make more

BEVERAGE TRENDS

BY JACK ROBERTIELLO

Mixologists are shaking up the cocktail scene, using wineand beer to give new life to mixed drinks

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interesting drinks and take advantage of thisbounty of ingredients.”In addition to boasting lower alcohol levelsand broader flavor options, wine and beer canadd complexity, high acids and depth tococktails, all characteristics mixologistsdemand. Beer can inject a robustly grainy tang,and those with hoppy notes add a welcomebitterness. Meanwhile, the flavor profiles of wines can include pineapple, vanilla, apple,pear, blackberry, cherry and other fruit notes.Due mainly to their lower alcohol content, beerandwinedrinksprovideabettermatchformostspicy cuisines: high-alcohol beverages leave aburning sensation on a palate opened by spices.

HISTORICALLY IN THE MIX

Of course, to beer and wine aficionados,adding anything post-production to theirfavorite tipple seems sacrilegious. The oddChampagne cocktail and old, standby beermixtures like the Black and Tan aregrudgingly accepted, but many contemporarydrinkers tend to burrow deeper into theircategory of choice rather than experimentwith a mixologist’s creations.But both beer and wine have long beenserved mixed. Brewing cultures frequentlyblended different beer styles or addedflavoring agents. In most European societies,fortified wines (like vermouth and port) andsparkling wines were the base for mixeddrinks, punches and fizzes.Today, many wine-focused restaurantoperators see an advantage to servingsparkling-wine cocktails, as their perceivedelegance makes them an easy entry point. Atthe Purple Café and Wine Bar in Seattle, 16Champagne cocktails appear on the wine list,including most of the classics, like the French75, made with gin and sweetened lemon juice,and the Mimosa, made with orange juice. Newer drinks like the Sea Captain’s Specialare made with rye, pastis and Champagne.

PLAYING TO STRENGTHS

Other wine-based drinks, such as sangrias,have become popular again, appearing inmany modern iterations on chain andindependent restaurant menus: Caribbean-themed Bahama Breeze prominently featuresfour sangrias (spice berry, rock melon,blackberry and mango), made with white, redor white zinfandel.Restaurants serving a broad range of beersare also likely candidates to spearhead thebeer-cocktail trend. New York City’s ArtisanalFromagerie, Bistro & Wine Bar has developeda reputation for serving special brews, and nowthe restaurant hosts Brew Tuesday, when beersare discounted and pairings with cheese arepromoted. Last winter, the program expandedto feature ﬁve beer cocktails.“It’s something interesting for the beerdrinker,” says Artisanal’s beverage director,Ian Nal. “We have a lot of guests who areserious about beer, and it gives them a chanceto try something new and interesting.”

BEVERAGE TRENDS

A.J. Rathbun, author of “Wine Cocktails,” mixesup the traditional mimosa with vanilla and pear ﬂavors and a vanilla podfor garnish.

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