Breakfast cocktails are almost a necessity when on vacation, brunching, early morning tailgating, or waking up from a rough night out on the town. Mimosas are great, and definitely serve a purpose. But some days require a bit more alcohol than others.

Worthy of drinking any hour of the day, this eye-opening beverage starts with a base of muddled mango, lemon juice and agave nectar. Throw in a bit of Bourbon, IPA, and a dash of Angostura bitters… and the day is ready to begin!

Kentucky Sunrise

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. Bourbon
• 1 oz. mango, diced
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. raw agave nectar
• 2 oz. India Pale Ale
• Angostura bitters

Instructions

Muddle the mango, lemon juice and agave until mango has been sufficiently pulverized. Add Bourbon. Shake vigourously with ice. Strain into Champagne flute, top with IPA and 2 dashes Angostura bitters.

I have found that one of the best ways of incorporating beer into cocktails is to use it in place of champagne or soda water. By utilizing beer in this way, you open up a simple cocktail to all sorts of variations. If you were to add a nice Belgian ale, you would be gaining some sweet malt and yeast flavors to your cocktail, but if you used an uber hopped IPA instead, you would add a fantastic bitter/citrus dimension to your drink.

The thing to keep in mind when using beer is balance. Some beers, especially Belgians can be fairly sweet, so make sure that you are adjusting your cocktail accordingly. This next drink pairs one of my favorite spirits with one of my favorite styles of beer.

I first came up with this drink about a year ago, when I was first experimenting with beer cocktails. It is a riff on the French 75, which is one of my wife’s favorite cocktails. This is a variation that works fantastic with either a nice Belgian ale, or an IPA, depending on your tastes. Cheers!

In Flanders Field
1 1/2oz Gin
1 oz Lemon Juice
4 oz Goose Island Pere Jacques

Do you remember girls in high school stuffing their Zima’s full of skittles? No? Maybe it was a Reno thing… I guess maybe girls in other cities went with Smirnoff Ice. The point is, that generally speaking, women are not the target market when it comes to beer. I know this upsets some of you, but it is not a judgement, it is just the truth. And it is rather unfortunate if you ask me. Between the image factor, the social stigma and those damn skinny girl margaritas, what is a sophisticated (or not) beer loving lady to do?

While serving up flavored vodka after flavored vodka, I began to formulate a plan for a mixture that would appease the fairer of the sexes. This concoction caters to the fruity cocktail loving palate as well as introduces some depth and interest that will never be found at the bottom of a Whip Cream Vodka & Soda glass.

Bitch Beer

• 1.5 oz Gin (I like Quintessential for this one)
• .75 oz Fresh Lemon
• .75 oz Framboise Honey Syrup

Shake and double strain into a Coup
Top with Gueze Lambic Cuvée Rene
Garnish with two Raspberries

For the Syrup, warm some honey in a sauce pan until viscous. Reduce Framboise into the honey stirring constantly. It should take about twenty minutes to reach the desired consistency.

Happy drinking, and serving.

We all know that Rittenhouse is arguably one of the best rye whiskies.  So when I was informed that some intelligent individuals decided to age their fantastic stout in used Rittenhouse barrels, I jumped at the chance to use this beer in a cocktail. Since FiftyFifty Brewery Co. is up in Truckee, CA, getting the marvelous product down in L.A. is pretty hard. Thanks to a good friend and fellow beer advocate, I was introduced to Amy Burns Barr. She is the Director of Marketing for FiftyFifty Brewing Co. and was able to score me an extra bottle of their delicious elixir.

This beer cocktail involves California beer and California produce. I source all of my produce from the world famous farmers’ market near the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica.  Living near this oasis of rotating produce allows me to play with different flavors all year. The recipe may sound a little strange, but once it hits your lips it just tastes so good. This particular libation involves sage, fresh Meyer lemon juice, agave, butterscotch dates, Rittenhouse rye, and the Eclipse Imperial Stout aged in Rittenhouse barrels.

I feel that lemon juice works with whiskey the best. The dates add not only a great butterscotch flavor but viscosity as well. The sage provides an earthy flavor to the cocktail. Agave is my favorite sweetening agent, and I find that it binds all of the ingredients together.

50 Percent of the Time…

2 oz Rittenhous Rye

¾ oz lemon juice

2-3 sages leaves

2 butterscotch dates (cut in half)

¾ oz Agave

1 ¾ oz Eclipse Imperial Stout (aged in Rittenhouse Barrels)

Combine all ingredients in tin. Add ice and shake vigorously. Double strain with a Hawthorne and Chinoise. Garnish with sage leaf wrapped around the straw.

Much like a brewer and even a chef, a mixologist is both an artist and a scientist. Like a scientist, a mixologist must understand the chemistry of his ingredients. Like a painter, a mixologist must first conceptualize an idea in his mind, and then recreate it in a tangible form. The finest cocktails, like the finest artwork, convey vision and creativity and exude emotion and passion.In this featured beer mixologist series we introduce you to the mysterious place between time and space where the dark secrets and inner workings of the brilliant minds driving the beer cocktail trend are revealed.

Today, we introduce you to Bradford Knutson, one of BeerMixology.com’s rockstar contributors.

Bradford Knutson

I am the bar manager at Swing Wine Bar in Olympia, WA. I have worked hard over the last few years creating a craft/classic cocktail program at Swing. I have also worked with other local bartenders in an effort to spread cocktail culture in Olympia, specifically uniting bartenders from multiple establishments to create a fantastic Repeal day celebration at the Capitol theater which we plan to hold annually in an effort to unite downtown business and further spread the cocktail culture. (facebook; http://www.facebook.com/#!/RepealProhibitionDayOlympia)

I have dabbled in beer cocktails a little over the last couple years but it wasn’t until Ashley contacted me about this website that I really started to take it seriously. I have known for a while that this would be the new trend and Beermixology.com was just the shot in the arm I needed.

The flavor of Hopps. There is nothing else that I am aware of in a bartenders repertoire that has the unique flavor profiles that beer has.

For myself, i like a Shandy, simple, refreshing. But for my customers I am really liking Ashley’s ‘the urbanite’ (http://beermixology.com/2012/01/13/the-urbanite/#more-815) right now. I still have a large portion of customer who will simply order a Cosmo without a second glance at our original or classic cocktails. Thos version of a beer cosmo is a perfect opportunity to introduce some of those customers to something a little different

I would have to tell them to come see me at Swing. There really isn’t a whole lot happening in that area unless you are into those car bombs. I know my friend Leroy at the restaurant Mercato plays with beer cocktails a little as well but I have not had the opportunity to test out his personally. He is however one of the up and coming bartenders in the area and you are likely to get a very fine beverage from him.

Well Gary Reagan has been a great supporter of mine and he continues to be an amazing  supporter of bartenders and cocktail culture worldwide. His site, Ardent Spirits, is currently being updated but you can still sign up for his newsletter which is extremely informative. Jeffery Morgenthaleris a friend whom I met at the very first Art of the Cocktail conference in Victoria BC. and he is well known as the premiere cocktail blogger worldwide, he practically invented the cocktail blog as we know it and his site is a plethora of information on recipes for drinks and mixers, as well as a host of other information affecting the bar-tending community. Without citing the obvious (Beer Mixology), I have recently become aware of a site that is a fantastic tool for bartenders, Foodpairing.com. The flavor tree is an amazing tool for pairing flavors.

• PDT in New York, I have never had the pleasure of visiting that fine city and Jim Meehan has the hottest hand in the cocktail world right now. Besides, he is a native of Wisconsin like me so you know already the man is a class act.
• Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, because I’m a cocktail history geek (original French 75, Bloody Mary, Hanky Panky..,.). Plus I could squeeze in a little side trip to Cognac.
• Hula Manchester in the United Kingdom, I mean Tacky Tiki in the UK, How could that not be an absolute blast?!? A little side trip to Savoy Hotel would be a part of that trip.

Pliny and Pappy!

A brandy old fashioned. I’m from Wisconsin, they rubbed brandy on my gums as a baby, it’s in my blood.

Ada Coleman of the American Bar in the Savoy Hotel, London around 1920. She was one of the first and most famous female bartender of her time. I am working on a beer version of the Hanky Panky, A Fernet cocktail that she is famous for creating and one of my favorites.

While beer cocktails may seem like a novel new trend in mixology, using beer in cocktails is not actually a new concept. In fact, the earliest beer cocktails date back to 1695, with the mention of the flip in Oxford’s English Dictionary.

Although rarely seen on a cocktail menu today, a flip is a fantastic way to get into beer cocktails. In its most basic iteration, a flip is simply beer, spirit, and sweetener. Flips can also include egg, and may be served hot or cold.

This flip variation was created by my friend Owen, while he was still bartending at the Bayou Oyster Bar and features a combination of amaro and stout. The initial creation utilized a locally brewed oatmeal stout, but any stout that is thick and creamy will do. This drink can easily be used as a starting point to experiment with other amaro/stout combinations. Cheers!

Breakfast In Bed
3 oz Oatmeal Stout
1 oz Amaro Abano
1 whole egg
Dash Orange Bitters

Our good friends over at New Brew Thursday, one of the most compelling and popular craft beer focused video podcasts on the Internet, recently featured BeerMixology.com’s original “Gingerbread Ale Flip” on an episode of their show, which we are not passing along to our friends and fans. Watch as the (rather adorable) men shake things up with a little beer mixology.

Sometimes just adding beer to something makes it immediately better, brats, batter, sports, bbqing, bad movies, and margaritas. Yes, margarita’s. Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you the Marga-veza. Invented by my friend Keith Waldbauer back when he was at Barrio in Seattle. It was a pure stroke of genius. How often on a beautiful sunny day while sitting on a patio do you find yourself trying to decide between a nice cold beer and a margarita? It’s a question that can drive you mad as you debate the merits of each. You could look like a lush and order both, you could make yourself choose one over the other, or you could just make life easy for yourself and just combine them both into one tasty and really big drink.

The maltiness and lightness of a Mexican beer meets up with agave and lime in a symphony of refreshment and cold delight. This is also one of the few times when I really feel that you need a crap ton of salt on the rim. It meets up with the beer and lime and adds just that right tang to the drink. As an added bonus, it’s a really big drink. Seriously thirst quenchingly big. The Marga-veza, big, cold, tasty, and you’re welcome.

Margaveza

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Blanco tequila
• 1 oz Orange Liqueur (Creole Shrubb or Combier for preference)
• .5 oz lime juice
• .25 oz agave nectar

Instructions
Combine over ice and shake, take large half of shaker and rim liberally with salt, pour drink into rimmed half, and top with one bottle of Mexican beer of your choice, I like Sol or Carta Blanca.  Serve rest of beer on the side.

On March 30th, Firestone Walker’s From the Barrel event will return for its second year at the Historic Santa Margarita Ranch. This year’s lineup will feature some of the best barrel-aged beer in the country as well as Ports, Bourbons and great local food.

BeerMixology.com’s founder, Ashley Routson, has been invited to “shake things up” this year with a beer cocktail station.  Ashley will be presenting original Bourbon beer cocktail recipes designed specifically for Firestone Walker’s outstanding artisan beers.

Bourbons scheduled to pour include: Buffalo Trace, Wild Turkey, Jim Beam Black, Angel Envy, Woodford Reserve, Eagle Rare 10 year and several others including small production California spirit makers.

Ports and Porto wines from some of the Central Coast’s premiere wineries will also be featured.  Wineries scheduled to pour are Cass, Roxo Cellars and Le Vigne with several more to come.

Last but not least, the event will feature rare barrel aged beers from California breweries Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Lost Abbey, Ballast Point and Russian River. New this year will be two out of state breweries, Jolly Pumpkin from Michigan and Crooked Stave from Colorado.

Tickets are $60 a person and are on sale now at fromthebarrel.net. Tickets are limited (last year sold out fast). If you do end up attending the event, make sure to stop by the beer cocktail station and say hello to Ashley.

Cheers!

Much like a brewer and even a chef, a mixologist is both an artist and a scientist. Like a scientist, a mixologist must understand the chemistry of his ingredients. Like a painter, a mixologist must first conceptualize an idea in his mind, and then recreate it in a tangible form. The finest cocktails, like the finest artwork, convey vision and creativity and exude emotion and passion.

In this featured beer mixologist series we introduce you to the mysterious place between time and space where the dark secrets and inner workings of the brilliant minds driving the beer cocktail trend are revealed.

Today, we introduce you to David McCabe, one of BeerMixology.com’s rockstar contributors.

David McCabe

Yes! I founded a restaurant called Punk’s Backyard Grill in Annapolis, MD, just outside of Washington, DC.  It’s a contemporary version of the classic American backyard cookout.  All the food is made from scratch and we have a rotating selection of nine drafts and 40 bottled beers, plus a varied and interesting cocktail program.  I run the bar, among other things, on a day to day basis.

Danny Meyer of USHG. A discriminating palate, a successful businessman and a restaurateur through and through. That would get me the kind of feedback I would need. The drink would be muddled fresh hops, lemon, Ramazotti, grapefruit bitters and something malty like Aventinus.