The thought of mixing tequila into my beer immediately transports me back to unfortunate undergraduate experiments and sad offerings at student dive bars.

Everyone has had a ‘Snakebite’ hangover before, and I still get a headache just thinking about it.

I know you know what I’m talking about.

Now that we’re ‘adulting’, to use a popular word these days, we know better. What you might not know is that there is a way to mix a beer cocktail that results in a refreshing and rather sophisticated summer drink.

South Africans love cracking open a cold one, but sometimes you might want to mix things up a little. Over on the New York Post, they’ve covered a fresh spin on what to do with that backup case of beer you’re storing up for when the sun comes out.

Here, without further ado, are some background basics to get you going, and five beer cocktail recipes to try out this weekend.

THE BASICS

Use The Right Brew:

You’ll want to use a “beer that’s on the lighter side, but not a light beer which will make the cocktail too watery”.

Sol is a playful summer beer that makes the perfect base for a beer cocktail because it’s light, but not a light beer.

If you’ve shared a Sol with friends, you also already know that it tastes amazing with a wedge of lime or lemon, which means it will work well with the citrus flavours that you’ll use in your cocktails.

Follow The Formula:

Pour a little out of the bottle or take a sip or two – that’s your basic base for the cocktail. What’s left is the right amount of beer. Then you need to play with proportions –  a little citrus goes a long way.

Balance Your Flavours:

Make sure that the secondary flavours don’t dominate. A good cocktail is a balanced cocktail.

Now that you’re on your way, it’s time for…

THE RECIPES

Spicy Grapefruit Shandy

• 4 cups grapefruit juice, preferably fresh
• ¼ cup finely chopped pickled ginger
• ¼ cup (or more) pickled ginger juice
• Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
• 1 x Sol beer

Combine the grapefruit juice, pickled ginger, pickled ginger juice and a small pinch of salt and two cranks of pepper and give it a vigorous stir.

Taste and add ingredients as desired. Divide the beer among ice-filled glasses, and add a splash of the mixture to taste.

Honey Cocktail

• 1¼ ounces gin
• ¾ ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1½ teaspoons honey
• 8 ounces chilled Sol beer
• Dash of Angostura bitters (optional)
• Lemon slice (for serving)

Combine the gin, lemon juice, and honey in a pint glass and stir until honey is dissolved.

Fill the glass partway with ice and top up with beer. Stir gently to combine, and garnish with a lemon slice.

Gosh, when did you become so refined?

Spaghetti Western

This one is for the adventurous beer cocktail drinker.

• 1½ parts bourbon
• ½ part Campari liqueur
• 1 part lemon juice
• ½ part syrup
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1½ parts Sol beer
• 4-6 Cherry tomatoes, sweet
• Garnish lemon peel

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the cherry tomatoes, and combine the rest of the ingredients except the beer.

Add some ice and give it a good shake. Strain it into a beer glass, add beer and ice, and garnish with a lemon peel.

For the final two recipes, we go to Pink Villa:

The Classic Shandy

• 300 ml chilled sprite
• ½ lemon and 60ml
• 1 x Sol beer

This one is rather simple. Mix the above together in a glass, top with a few cubes of ice, and your cocktail is ready.

It’s an oldie but a goodie.

Mexican Bomb

• 45 ml tequila
• Lots of ice
• A quality Mexican beer (once again, you can’t go wrong with Sol)
• A wedge of lime

Pour the tequila into a large glass half-filled with ice cubes. Top up with a Sol beer, and garnish it with a dash of lime.

Of course, you could just keep it simple by keeping a six-pack or two of Sol in your fridge. It mixes well with friends, fun, and of course that cheeky slice of lime or lemon.

Bring on summer.

[sources: nypost&pinkvilla]