Beer cocktails are back in fashion!* And we don’t mean dunking a shot of vodka into a pint of lager while your mate celebrating his 21st birthday isn’t looking. We mean proper combinations of drinks designed to be perfectly in tune with the flavours of a specific beer.
And one brewery taking beer cocktails more seriously than most is Badger Ales who have roped in top mixologist Nick Strangeway to craft some unique drinks using their own range of beers.
Not being shy of trying new drinks flavours we took it upon ourselves to test the recipes and present you with our three favourite badger beer cocktails. And we enjoyed it so much we even designed one ourselves.
#1 Sloe Poach
• 1 bottle of Badger’s Poacher’s choice
• 25ml sloe gin
• 50ml pink grapefruit
Method: Add all the ingredients to a pint glass, fill with ice and top with Badger’s Poacher’s Choice. Garnish with a lemon wedge.
The verdict: Using our favourite Badger Ale this is a real Autumnal treat. It kicks off with a nice sharp slap of citrus followed by rich, sweet fruity notes and a deep, mellow bittersweet and malty finish.
#2 Disco Badger
• 1 bottle of Badger’s Tanglefoot
• 25ml gin
• 25ml lemon juice
• 2 spoons Seville marmalade
• 10ml gomme, or a 2:1 sugar and water mixture
Method: Stir together the gin, lemon juice, marmalade and gomme, fill with ice and top with Tanglefoot.
The verdict: The sweet, malty taste of Tanglefoot is cut through with the sharp orange tang from the marmalade. Delicious… our pick of the bunch.
#3 Honey Badger
• One bottle of Badger’s Golden Champion
• 5/6 basil leaves
• 10ml honey
• 2 dash angostura bitters
Method: Mix 1/4 bottle of Golden Champion with the honey in a tall glass. Add the basil leaves and bitters, then stir vigorously to dissolve the honey. Fill the glass with ice, then top up with another 1/4 of beer. Garnish with basil.
The verdict: The honey and floral notes combined with fresh, peppery basil to make this a delicate, easily quaffed beverage. A perfect summer refresher.
And here’s our own creation…
Cheeky Badger
• 1 bottle of Badger Golden Champion
• 25ml creme de menthe
• 75ml apple juice
• A twist of lime
• A cheeky dash of chilli sauce
Method: Mix all the ingredients in a jug, pour into a glass of your choice and float a sprig of mint on top for fancy visual effect.
The verdict: The cool mint, lime and apple combine with the floral notes of Golden Champion to make this a light and refreshing tipple enlivened with a cheeky dose of chilli.
For more information on Badger Ales, visit www.badgerales.com
*It’s doubtful they ever were in fashion but they’re nothing new – some recipes go back for centuries
Note: Badger’s people contacted our people to see if we wanted to try out these cocktails and kindly supplied the beer for the task. We dipped our hands in our pockets for the rest of the ingredients.
