A beer cocktail needs a name that tells you what is in the glass, or at least makes you want to find out. Some of the classics below are decades old (the Black and Tan, the Snakebite), others are modern bar-menu inventions, and a few are just good starting points if you are naming your own mix for a party or a menu. Here are the real names worth knowing, plus a framework for building your own.
Classic Beer Cocktail Names
| Name | What’s in it |
|---|---|
| Black and Tan | Pale ale layered under a stout, usually Guinness over Bass |
| Black Velvet | Stout topped with Champagne or sparkling wine, invented in London in 1861 |
| Snakebite | Lager and hard cider in equal parts, sometimes with a dash of blackcurrant cordial |
| Shandy | Lager cut with lemonade or ginger ale, a British pub staple since the 1800s |
| Radler | The German version of a shandy, lager mixed with citrus soda |
| Boilermaker | A beer with a shot of whiskey dropped in or served alongside |
| Michelada | Mexican lager with lime juice, hot sauce, Worcestershire and a chili-salt rim |
| Beermosa | Wheat beer or lager topped with orange juice, a beer take on the mimosa |
A few of these have deep roots. The Shandygaff is one of the oldest documented beer mixes, dating to at least the 1850s in Britain, and it is the direct ancestor of every modern shandy and radler on this list.
Modern and Bar-Menu Names
Craft bars have leaned into punnier, more descriptive names over the last decade, especially for beer cocktails built around a specific style or a seasonal ingredient:
| Name | Style pattern |
|---|---|
| Lagerita | Lager blended into a margarita mix, tequila optional |
| Hop Skip (and a Jump) | IPA-based cocktail names that riff on the hop character |
| Amber Storm | Dark spirit plus an amber or brown ale |
| Porchcrawler | Wheat beer, vodka and lemonade, a Midwest US backyard staple |
| Witbier Sunrise | Witbier with a splash of orange and grenadine for the sunrise gradient |
| U-Boot (Depth Charge) | A shot glass of schnapps or Jager dropped whole into a pilsner |
How to Name Your Own Beer Cocktail
The best beer cocktail names do one of three things: describe the exact ratio (Black and Tan, half and half), name the two ingredients directly (Boilermaker, beer plus a shot), or borrow a visual or seasonal cue (Beermosa for the color and brunch vibe, Witbier Sunrise for the gradient in the glass). If you are building a home bar menu or a party drink list, pick one lane and stay consistent rather than mixing pun names with descriptive names on the same card.
For actual recipes rather than just names, our Beer Buster, Wassail, Berliner Weisse mit Schuss and Beer Spritz guides walk through exact measurements, and our Girls’ Night Beer Drinks and Radler and Shandy Recipes pieces cover more variations if you need a full drink list rather than just a name. We have written up more than 25 of these in total, all collected in Best Beer Cocktail Recipes: Every One We Have Ever Written, so if a name here catches your eye, there is a good chance we already have the exact recipe.
FAQs
What is the difference between a shandy and a radler?
They are essentially the same drink under different names. Shandy is the British term (lager and lemonade or ginger ale), radler is the German term (lager and citrus soda), and both date to roughly the same era of stretching a beer with something sweeter and lower in alcohol.
What is a Boilermaker?
A beer served with a shot of whiskey, either dropped directly into the glass or served on the side to be sipped between beer drinks. The name comes from working-class American and British pubs where boilermakers and other tradesmen drank them after a shift.
Is a Black and Tan the same as a Black Velvet?
No. A Black and Tan layers a pale ale under a stout. A Black Velvet layers a stout under Champagne or sparkling wine. Both rely on the stout’s density to create a visible layer, but the top half is completely different.
