Make that cold one a beer cocktail

In his book “Cocktails on Tap: The Art of Mixing Spirits and Beer,” barman Jacob Grier goes beyond the michelada and the boilermaker to give us 50 recipes for beer cocktails. He reinvents forgotten classics and introduces us to his new favorites.

A beer flip is traditionally made by plunging a red-hot loggerhead into the cocktail, a dramatic preparation that simultaneously caramelizes the sugar and froths the beverage, but Grier gives us this contemporary version “when you don’t have an iron loggerhead and a fireplace handy.”

Beer Flip

Ingredients

12 oz English-style ale, such as Samuel Smith Winter Welcome

Boiling water

1½ tbsps demerara sugar

1 oz high-proof rum, such as Smith & Cross

Instructions

In a sauce pan, heat the ale over medium heat to about 140ºF. Warm a tempered glass mug with boiling water. Discard the water and immediately add the sugar, rotating the mug so that the sugar coats the side of the mug.

Next, add the rum until it reaches the edge of the glass. Using a match or a lighter, set the surface of the rum aflame. Holding the mug by the handle, rotate the mug and allow the flame to gradually caramelize the sugar.

To serve: Pour the hot ale into the mug, extinguishing the flame. Allow the mug to cool to a safe temperature before drinking.