There is no such thing as leftover wine in our house. Beer is another story. I have never been a beer drinker. Not even in college. I’ve tried a sip, once or twice, but never cared for the taste of it. So it was quite by accident that I recently drank a beer. Sort of.

We were in a local sports bar meeting Andrew for dinner. I had yet to look at the menu when the wait staffer came over to take our drink orders. One of the drink specials was a Grapefruit Radler. Somehow, I missed the fact that a radler is a beer based drink. The grapefruit part enticed me and I ordered it. Andrew arrived a few minutes later, just ahead of our drinks. He was surprised when I told him what I ordered and explained to me that a radler is a citrus (in this case grapefruit) & beer concoction. He offered to drink it for me so I could get something different, knowing my aversion to beer, but upon tasting it, I decided it wasn’t half bad, so I stuck with it.

With that experience in mind, I collected some cocktail recipes with beer as an ingredient when I was looking for a way to use up a few bottles of beer we had leftover in the fridge from a recent sailing trip. The beer helped make a wonderful, margarita-inspired cocktail!

Grapefruit Beergarita

Grapefruit Beergaritas (adapted from cookinglight.com)

Total Time Required: 10 minutes, Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup simple syrup
• juice & zest of 1 lime (1 ounce juice & 1 teaspoon zest)
• 12-ounce bottle of pale lager beer, chilled
• 1 cup pink grapefruit juice, chilled
• 2 ounces tequila

Directions:

Combine the simple syrup, lime zest, and lime juice in a glass pitcher.

Combine the lime juice & zest with the simple syrup.

Add the beer, grapefruit juice, and tequila to the pitcher.

Add the grapefruit juice & alcohols to the pitcher.

Stir gently. Serve over ice.

Pour the mixture over ice, into margarita or beer glasses.

Cool & refreshing, even for a non-beer drinker!

I may not drink beer, but I will drink these!  ~Linda

Grapefruit Beergaritas (adapted from cookinglight.com) Total Time Required: 10 minutes, Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup simple syrup
• juice & zest of 1 lime (1 ounce juice & 1 teaspoon zest)
• 12-ounce bottle of pale lager beer, chilled
• 1 cup pink grapefruit juice, chilled
• 2 ounces tequila

Directions:

Combine the simple syrup, lime zest, and lime juice in a glass pitcher. Add the beer, grapefruit juice, and tequila to the pitcher. Stir gently. Serve over ice.