The Boozed-Up Beers of Summer
My latest cocktail column: out now online and in the July edition of the The Spectator
“For a riff on an existing summer cocktail — the Bloody Mary — there are several ways to go. For a slimmer version, find a good hot sauce you really like and mix two tablespoons with a shot of fresh lime juice and a shot of vodka and slowly mix into a lager. It’s punchy, and you can always make it hotter by adding fresh chili. Or go all the way and make a Bloody Beer. Mix a 2:1 ratio of beer and tomato juice and add six dashes of Tabasco, two dashes of Worcestershire sauce and half an ounce of lime juice, gently stirred together, and finished with a celery stick. If you really want to get slammed, pour a full-bodied red wine on top as a float.
The best beer-based cocktail, though, is a masculine spin on another popular summer cocktail: the spritz. The Aperol spritz involves two shots of Aperol and a healthy dose of prosecco, topped up with soda water. For its beer-based cousin — sometimes called the Spaghett — take a bottle of light lager, add two shots of Campari, a shot of fresh lemon juice and a dash of orange bitters. The combination is pleasantly bitter, citrusy and beautifully refreshing. I’ll be drinking these all summer long.”
Out now in The Spectator and our July edition: my latest cocktail column. Read it now!