You have undoubtedly heard of a black and tan, which is a mix of a dark beer and a lighter beer. Most likely you are aware of the Guinness and Bass Ale black and tan promoted by their importer.

But there are other drinks to be made by mixing beers. A few weeks ago I was listening to Basic Brewing’s recount of the Big Beers Festival where exotic and strong ales, some quite high in alcohol, were exhibited. Some of these big beers are not for everyone; they pack a punch of flavor and having more than one might have you “hit the bar” in the literal sense (which happens to be the origin of the phrase).

In order to level things out, the Basic Brewing Radio Show pointed out that many people were enjoying the strong ales mixed with a lighter ale. Particularly, they seemed to like them with fruit based beers. I’ve never had such a thing, but I did try something similar to make a blueberry beer more palatable.

Next time you are faced with a beer you don’t like so much, think about mixing it with something else and you may create masterpiece. Of course, you may also just ruin the better beer.

There are other beer drinks out there as Webtender.com points out. A Black Velvet is a Guinness mixed with champagne. A Poor Man’s Black Velvet is a Guinness mixed with cider.

They get more creative and I’d love to try some of these if for nothing else to have fun trying. How about Dragon’s Blood, which is barley wine and rum? Perhaps a Dog’s Nose, which is a bitter and gin?

This one doesn’t sound so good… the Mother-In-Law, which is old and bitter.