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Beer-based cocktails

Beer-based cocktails use beer as a mixer or extender rather than a garnish — a Michelada's savoury spice, a Shandy's citrus lift — turning something usually drunk on its own into a cocktail base. It's a smaller, more casual category than spirit-led drinks, built for backyard and daytime drinking rather than a cocktail bar menu.

Where to start with beer-based

  1. the one it is known for

    Michelada

    The beer cocktail the category is built around, and the drink most others here are compared against.

  2. the easiest to get right

    Shandy

    2 ingredients, built, and about 3 minutes — very little to go wrong.

  3. where it goes next

    Black Velvet

    A layered beer & wine rather than a beer cocktail — dry and bitter, and a different side of the same bottle.

A michelada in a chilli-salt-rimmed pint glass with a lime wedge

Michelada

Mexican lager built over ice with lime, tomato juice, hot sauce and Worcestershire — savoury, spicy, and endlessly adjustable.

spicysourrefreshing
easy5 minbeer

Shandy

Pale lager cut fifty-fifty with cloudy lemonade — a low-alcohol, high-refreshment pub classic.

refreshingsweetsour
easy3 minbeer

Snakebite

Equal parts lager and cider, built together — a straightforward, hard-hitting British pub pint.

refreshingdrystrong
easy3 minbeer

Black Velvet

Stout and sparkling wine, layered together in equal parts — a dark, celebratory pairing of two very different fizzes.

drybitterstrong
medium4 minbeer