Michelada, a beer cocktail made with a pilsner, tomato juice, and lime. (Nathan Wilkinson).

By DCist contributor Nathan Wilkinson

Bar menus usually present us with a choice between liquor and beer, but some of us have never considered having both in the same drink. That’s because good beer doesn’t need improving; brewers put a lot of effort into selecting the roast of the barley and the mixture of hops that give their beers color and flavor. Hard liquors themselves are interesting and potent, and may only need to be chilled. Still, a combination of beer and liquor, when done well, can result in an unexpectedly sublime and refreshing cocktail.

Beer cocktails typically include a short list of ingredients—beer and something else—and they fall into one of two camps. Some drinks, like the Shandy, are thinned with juices or sodas. Some more serious drinkers prefer a shot of liquor dunked into a glass of beer to speed intoxication. These folks have an arsenal of self-destruction with the Boilermaker, Depth Charge, and Irish Car Bomb.

In defense of these cocktail experimenters and their particular form of alcohol abuse, they are usually mixing liquor with poor quality beers, such as mass-produced light pilsners. However, with the explosion of microbreweries in D.C., a few mixologists are daring enough to feature cocktails made with artisanal beers on their menu.

“Beer cocktails are hard to make because you are already working with a complete drink,” says Jon Arroyo, beverage director and chief mixologist of the Farmers Restaurant Group, whose restaurants include Farmers Fishers and Bakers and Founding Farmers. His cocktail list at Farmers Fishers Bakers (3000 K Street NW) includes four beer cocktails. Arroyo says he started mixing with beer after an argument with a friend who told him he “hated beer cocktails because they are never done right.”

Jon Arroyo, beverage director for the Farmers Restaurant Group poses with several of his beer cocktails. (Nathan Wilkinson)

Arroyo’s Beer’s Knees cocktail — with pale ale, gin, honey, lemon juice and soda — is a twist on the classic Bee’s Knees. Refreshingly sweet and spicy, The Beer’s Knees is a cocktail in its own right and tastes more like a gin drink than a beer-plus-liquor fiasco like the Boilermaker. The Chelada is a take on the Mexican classic made with Kölsch beer, lime juice, ice, a lime wedge and salt on the rim. For folks who like rich beers like raspberry lambic, there’s the Greyhawk, a white wheat ale mixed with house-made raspberry syrup and craft vodka. Future beer cocktail offerings at Farmers restaurants might include seasonal beers like porters and stouts.

The Brixton (901 U Street NW) is another D.C. restaurant that serves high-quality beer cocktails. Take for example their Snakebite, a mix of Carlsberg pilsner and Strongbow cider; add black currant liqueur to make it a Diesel. If you’re feeling more adventurous, try the Legless Bobby, made with Stiegl Grapefruit Radler (a beer brewed with grapefruit juice) and Fidencio mezcal. The Brixton’s bartenders will also make a custom-order shandy with your choice of draft beer and lemonade, ginger ale, or ginger beer.

For home bartenders who want to keep things simple, there’s the classic Shandy Gaff. All you need to do is fill a glass with equal parts amber lager and spicy ginger beer. If you enjoy Bloody Marys and want to try a more complicated beer cocktail, follow this recipe for a Michelada:

• 6 oz. pilsner beer
• 1 lime
• 2 oz. tomato juice
• Several dashes of hot sauce like Tabasco
• Garnish with sea salt rim and lime wedge

Rim a pilsner glass with salt by dipping it in lime juice and then in a plate of sea salt. Fill the glass with ice. Pour the beer into the glass and squeeze half a lime on top. Top the glass with tomato juice and hot sauce and garnish with a lime wedge.

For more great beer cocktail recipes, see David Wondrich’s article on the subject in Esquire.