Beer cocktails. At face value the concept seems nauseating, not to mention a gross perversion of the age-old "beer before liquor ... " admonishment. You're drinking a beer precisely because you don't want a cocktail, right? But the British have been drinking Shandy's since there were foreign nations to invade, and south of the border it's the Michelada that's the official drink of summer, not some South Beach mojito.

Beer is actually a versatile (and cheap) way to add effervescence and structure to a drink, whether you're using a lighter pilsner to create a warm-weather refresher or a stout to build a hearty dessert drink. This summer you've probably seen a lot more beer cocktails on menus, as they're poised to be this year's big drink trend. So to get you primed on what to expect, Asylum rounded up the top 10 beer cocktails, both old-school classics and some new-school exclusives made just for us.


Classics:

Michelada
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
12 oz. Mexican beer, like Corona
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes hot sauce, such as Tabasco
1 dash soy sauce
Salt rim of beer mug and fill with ice. Add lime juice. Fill almost to top with beer and add Worcestershire, hot sauce, and soy sauce. Garnish with lime wedge.

Learn how to refresh and impress with nine more beer cocktails after the jump ...

Red Eye
3/4 pint lager
1 ounce vodka
1 can tomato juice
Add vodka to beer glass filled 1/2-3/4 full. Top with tomato juice (a splash of Tabasco makes it a Ruddy Mary). For fans of "Cocktail," drop in a whole, raw, unstirred egg.

Snakebite
1/2 pint lager
1/2 pint hard cider
(optional) 1-2 shots of vodka
Mix lager with cider. Attempt to remain upright.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0Boilermaker
1 pint beer
1-1/2 ounces whiskey
Drink together, with the whiskey as a chaser, or drop the shot glass in Irish Car Bomb-style.

Shandy
6 ounces light beer
6 ounces lemonade (ginger ale and Sprite also work)
Combine, drink, repeat.

New School:

Monte Carlo
Recipe c/o Brian McFarland, Bowery Hotel Lobby Bar, NYC
2 ounces Lillet White
1 ounce St. Germain
3 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice (no pulp)
Pinch of agave nectar
2 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters
In a pint glass filled with ice, stir then strain into tall glass and fill to three-quarters full. Top with Kasteel Cru.

The Back Porch
Recipe c/o James Menite, Porter House, NYC
3/4 ounce Campari
1/2 ounce St. Germain
1/2 ounce Canton
8 ounces pilsner
Dash of Fee Brothers Lemon Bitters
Shake first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add pilsner and pour into cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon wheel.

Black Bush Velvet Isle
Recipe c/o Jim Meehan, PDT, NYC
1 ounce Bushmills Black Bush Irish whiskey
1 ounce Champagne
1 ounce Guinness
Pour whiskey into pint or wine glass. Top with equal parts Guinness and Champagne

Muddy Puddle
Recipe c/o Jill Schulster, JoeDoe, NYC
1-1/2 ounces bourbon
3 ounces iced espresso
1 ounce simple syrup
1 bottle Sierra Nevada Stout (or any stout)
Rim pilsner glass with peanuts. Shake bourbon, espresso and simple syrup together. Strain into pilsner glass. Add ice. Top with stout.

Cerveza Preparada
Recipe c/o Jill Schulster, JoeDoe, NYC
1 bottle Presidente beer
1-2 dashes hot sauce
1-2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1/2 ounce fresh lime
Rim Pilsner glass with salt. Add ice, a dash of hot sauce (to taste), and a dash of Worcestershire. Top with beer. Add lime to top of drink. Garnish with a lime slice. Optional -- float a shot of tequila on top.

From the web:
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