February 27, 2023
In the constantly expanding universe of beer styles and flavors, a unique type of brew has slowly been gaining popularity: cocktail beers. These brews, inspired by classic cocktails, allow brewers to get more creative while providing craft beer lovers with even more variety and diversity. The end results are brews that replicate a wide range of cocktails, from the light and fruity Paloma to the booze-heavy Old Fashioned.
One of the pioneers of the movement is California’s Firestone Walker, which has been making cocktail-inspired creations since 2017. Their series of barrel-aged brews is spearheaded by barrel meister Eric Ponce, himself a lover of complex craft cocktails.
Ponce joined Firestone Walker when the brewery wanted to introduce more range and adventure into its already-successful barrel-aging program. His first beer was Dark & Stormy, in the tradition of the rum-based drink. Ponce has gone on to leverage Firestone Walker’s size and connections to obtain an incredible variety of barrels, from traditional bourbon to absinthe, cognac, and mezcal.
Ponce and his wife both enjoy a complex and nuanced cocktail, and he draws inspiration from flavor profiles they discover. With a notebook full of ideas, Ponce starts strategizing how to get the flavors he wants from beer, natural ingredients, and most importantly, barrels.
At the start of the process Ponce considers, “What cocktail do I love? What cocktail can I make without having to use extracts or oils? What’s the base beer I want to use?”
When deciding on base beers, Ponce considers the fact that certain beer styles naturally pair with certain liquor flavors. For example, blondes work better with gin and rum, while flavorful dark beers offset the strong and boozy flavors of whiskey or bourbon.
From there, he moves on to the nitty-gritty of sampling and blending. “I start pulling samples from different barrels, different base beers until I get the mouthfeel and color that the cocktail has,” he says.
One of Ponce’s secret weapons is bitters. Bitters, which comes in numerous flavors including orange and cherry, is used to add depth to complex cocktails. It also happens to be aged in barrels. By blending small quantities of beer aged in bitters barrels, Ponce authentically re-creates the nuances of classic cocktails.
For Ponce, discovering the potential of bitters barrels was a breakthrough. “It was so intense. It was like you open up a bottle of bitters and only use one drop and it really opens up that cocktail. Once I started tasting through these, I got goosebumps and a smile on my face.”
Ponce uses unadulterated ingredients to create desired flavors, colors, and textures. Instead of syrups and flavorings, he experiments with additions like hibiscus tea, which he incorporated into Tequila Barrel Sunrise to replicate the color, acidity, and flavor of that cocktail.
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