Heresy or Genius? You Decide!

I have to admit, when I heard that beer cocktails were the latest thang on cocktail menus, it got one of those big-time eyerolls usually reserved for bartenders who ask if I want my martini with gin or vodka.

Really? Cocktails made with beer? Spare me!

But, as usually happens when I get all up on my high horse, a comeuppance wasn't far behind, and it came in the guise of nice guy and bartender extraordinaire Jacob Grier (left) of Metrovino. He'd been playing around with beer cocktails, seeing if our local microbrews could be insinuated into some cocktails for the benefit of spirit, brew and drinker.

You might remember him from my post about Kopstootje, the Dutch tradition of drinking genevere with a beer back, when he had the bright idea to introduce the folks from Bols to Upright Brewing's Alex Ganum. So when asked to come up with a couple of unique libations using the Brazilian sugar cane spirit called cachaça, he knew he'd found a good candidate for his experiments with beer.

The first round of the drink was good, but not quite the knockout Grier wanted, so with some juggling of ingredients—he decided to jettison the traditional mint because it added an unpleasant bitterness—he came up with a libation he's calling the Caip-beer-inha, a twist on the national drink of Brazil.

While some might argue that Ninkasi's Total Domination IPA is a fabulous beer on its own and a caipirinha doesn't need any help, thank you very much (neither of which I can deny), the combination does have a certain je ne sais quoi as a summer sipper. Try it at your next lawn party and see if it doesn't get some nods of approval!

Caip-beer-inha

From Jacob Grier

2 oz Novo Fogo silver cachaça
Half a lime, quartered
1 spoon superfine white sugar
Ninkasi Total Domination IPA

Muddle the lime and sugar, add cachaça and ice and shake. Dump contents into a rocks glass, top with more ice, and finish with the beer.