PHOTO BY WINSTON ZHOU
PIZZA AND BEER ARE PERENIALLY PLEASANT AS A FOOD AND DRINK PAIR: comfortable, inviting, reliable, and laid back. In keeping with our grain theme, we asked the folks at Wishful Thinking Brewing Company in Bethlehem to hook us up with a beer cocktail.
Beer cocktails are customarily associated with warm weather as refreshing, boozy thirst quenchers—think Michelada, for example—but Wishful Thinking makes them all year long. Many of them start with a pull from one of the eight taps on its Lukr Faucet, a Czech beer tap. Choosing a beer cocktail makes your experience with beer and pizza a little different. The tap allows for dense foam of its mostly lagers and ales to be poured through a fine screen inside the faucet. The foam protects the beer from oxidation while you drink it. “We don’t do pitchers,” says Jackie Breslin, who owns and runs the place with her husband, Brendan.
The cocktail they’ve shared with us is called the Seasonal Shift, an early-winter-inspired mule. “The Seasonal Shift is like that perfect jacket you reach for when summer’s fading but it’s not quite time for the heavy coat. We use gin instead of vodka for some extra cool-weather piney-ness, she says. Then, mix in ginger beer and lime, a splash of Triple Sec for some orange notes. Top it off with their Sailor’s Delight IPA, a bit of candied ginger, a slice of orange, and a sprig of rosemary. “It’s a tasty way to ease into the cooler months without saying goodbye to some of those sunny flavors we love,” she says.
Stop in and grab some of their IPA to make this drink at home, or order it at the bar. Then, order one of their pizzas, made with local grain from Small Valley Milling in Halifax. The pizza, too, is unique; it’s not quite Detroit style but it’s more dense than Sicilian. All their varieties are creatively topped with lots of local ingredients.
The Seasonal Shift
Ingredients
- 1½ ounces New Liberty Snug Harbor gin
- ½ ounce New Liberty Triple Sec
- ¾ ounce lime juice
- 3 ounces ginger beer
- 3 ounces Sailor’s Delight Hazy IPA or other hazy IPA
- 1 orange slice for garnish
- 1 slice candied ginger for garnish
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary for garnish
Instructions
- In a mixing glass, combine gin, Triple sec, lime juice, and ginger beer. Add ice and stir well. Top with hazy IPA.
- Garnish with an orange slice, candied ginger, and a sprig of fresh rosemary, if desired.
