I'm a beer purist, so the thought of tarting-up a frosty mug of ale never appealed to me. That said, a part of me (that would be the part of me that’s always more than happy to try a new alcoholic beverage) is gung-ho to tap a keg and try a beer cocktail. Esquire magazine swears these four drinks are simple, tasty and ungimmicy -- since I’m a sucker for a gimmic I’m going to call them “ale-tails” because that sounds cuter.

Black Velvet

An elegant classic. Fill a champagne flute halfway with chilled Guinness. Top slowly with chilled brut champagne.

Porteree

Ancient, rich, sweet, rewarding, and simple. Fill a pint glass ¼ of the way with chilled porter. Stir in 1tsp. superfine sugar and fill with cracked ice.

Shandy Gaff

Light, spicy, and refreshing. Fill a pint glass a little more than halfway with good pale ale. Top slowly with ginger beer, the spicier the better.

Groundskeeper

What do you do with a Budweiser? Take a superpeaty Scotch, the kind that's almost too smoky to drink. When mixed, the Scotch calms down; the Bud mans up.
 Pour 1oz ultrasmoky single-malt Scotch into a pint glass. Add a chilled bottle of Bud.

Berliner Weisse mit Schuss

Pour a pint of traditional wheat beer and give it a shot of red-raspberry syrup.

All of these ale-tails (wait, who came up with that name? It sounds so cute) seem like something any manly-man would like. All of them, except for the last one which sounds like something I would love on a warm summer day. I’m grateful for beer cocktails -- I mean, ale-tails, because after a few, I’ll be singing “hoppy days are here again.” Okay, after a few ale-tails, I’m a sucker for a gimmic and a bad pun.

Today I’m grateful for beer cocktails.