Chris Eckert/Studio D

Jeffrey Westbrook/Studio D

I think we can all agree that beer is a constant delight, a wonderful beverage that need not yield to any in its excellence. Yet whenever mixed drinks rise in their relative popularity, the phrase "beer cocktail" gets kicked around and people suggest topping off your mojito with Coors, mashing chunks of watermelon into your Fat Tire, or other such silliness.

That's not to say you can't mix beer. People have been doing that ever since there was beer to mix. A few cocktail experts have even succeeded in working the stuff into honest-to-God cocktails, although they're usually not using the kind of beer you can find at the local Kwik-E-Mart. The beer drinks that have stood the test of time tend to be simple, ungimmicky things: beer, an extra ingredient or two, and done. We've mentioned a couple of these over the years the Cincinnati Cocktail (beer and seltzer; very refreshing), the sublime Michelada (beer, lime, hot sauce, seasoning) but have by no means exhausted the category. Here are four more, each combining the quaffing pleasure of a beer with some of that element of surprise you get from a cocktail. Plus, we've tacked on an extra one of our own, just for fun.

Porteree

Ancient, rich, sweet, rewarding, and simple.

Fill a pint glass ¼ of the way with chilled porter. (We generally use Anchor or Geary's.) Stir in 1 tsp superfine sugar or, better, 1 tsp demerara sugar syrup (made with 2 parts raw sugar to 1 part water, heated and stirred until sugar has dissolved) and fill glass with cracked ice. Slowly top off with more porter until full. Grate nutmeg over the top.

Black Velvet

A classic. The most elegant and delicious of beer drinks.

Fill a champagne flute halfway with chilled stout. (Guinness is effective, but if you can get Brooklyn Black Ops, you'll be in a whole other world.) Top off slowly with chilled brut champagne; this is a good use for that bottle of Veuve Clicquot you've been meaning to drink.

Shandy Gaff

This one goes back to the 19th century. It was light, spicy, and refreshing then and it still is now.

Fill a pint glass a little more than halfway with a good American pale ale (we like Mendocino Red Tail Ale), well chilled. Top off slowly with ginger beer, the spicier the better.

Berliner Weisse mit Schuss

Berlin's traditional wheat beer is drunk with a schuss, or shot, of either green waldmeister syrup (germandeli.com) or red-raspberry syrup in it. Most pleasant.

Pour a 1 oz schuss of waldmeister or raspberry syrup into a large wheat-beer glass. Slowly add 16 oz cold Berliner Kindl Weisse or other light German-style wheat beer.

Groundskeeper

When we were putting this article together, a question came up: What do you do with, say, Budweiser? What about a superpeaty Scotch, the kind that's almost too smoky to drink? Bingo. The Scotch calms down; the Bud mans up.

Pour 1 oz ultrasmoky single-malt Scotch, such as Ardbeg or Laphroaig, into a pint glass. Add 12 oz chilled Bud or other American pilsner.

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