Take yourself back to the early 2010s. Craft beer has reached a crescendo. The cocktail movement has fully established itself. And so, for the better part of a decade, “beer cocktails” were being dangled as a dazzling new hybrid form of mixed drinks that might take on. That was the idea, at least. But then, well, it never really took off.
Given the flourishing state of beer and cocktail culture roughly 10 years ago, such hybrid drinks were an obvious opportunity for bars and restaurants. It didn’t hurt that beer’s low alcohol content stretches out a cocktail and imparts a unique flavor profile, all while withholding any unwanted dilution. So what happened to this new frontier of Micheladas and Coronaritas?
Here to shed light on that question and re-examine that basically forgotten period of promise is VinePair’s contributing editor, Dave Infante. You might already be familiar with Infante as the host of VinePair’s “Taplines” podcast, which offers weekly deep dives into moments of history and meaningful movements within the beer industry. Consider this week’s episode an all-VinePair mashup, with Snakebites, Bulldogs, and the much-heralded “Beer Cocktail Boom.” This is not a tale of cocktails per se, but rather an exposé on a purported drinks trend and the media hype that fueled it. It’s right here on the “Cocktail College” podcast, and class is in session. Tune in for more.
