Beer Margarita

Beergarita, beerita: call it what you will! Here’s the best beer margarita recipe: fresh and all natural with real lime and tequila.

Why not add a little lager to your margarita? Yes, a beer margarita is a thing: also known as a beergarita or a beerita. Call it what you will: hops pair perfectly with the tart lime and orange perfume of a margarita. Many beer margarita recipes call for frozen limeade concentrate. But that’s not what a great cocktail is made of, is it? Here’s a tasty beer margarita with no limeade: just pure lime juice against the citrus and bitter notes of a beer. It became an instant favorite around here!

More great beer cocktails? Try the Michelada or Chelada!

What’s in a beer margarita?

As the name suggests, a beer margarita is simply a margarita served with beer. The margarita itself is a classic alcoholic drink on the list of International Bartender Association’s IBA official cocktails. This means that there’s an “official” definition of the margarita: the beerita just adds beer:

• Tequila
• Cointreau (orange liqueur)
• Lime juice
• Beer

That’s right: there’s no added sugar in a margarita! (There’s a small amount in the Cointreau.) No need to make this drink sickly sweet. As mentioned above: most beer margarita recipes call for frozen limeade concentrate. For our take, we wanted to stick with the classic margarita: so we simply added our classic margarita plus beer. The flavor is so pure, tangy, and nuanced from the beer: it’s truly a head above the rest.

The type of beer for a beergarita

To make a great beer margarita, you can’t add just any old beer, either! There are a few options we recommend:

• Use a lager for a classic flavor, like Corona since it’s a Mexican beer. Or,
• Step it up Craft IPA! This is what we did for ours, and it really took it over the top. Choose a hoppy IPA with citrus notes.

How to make a beer margarita

To mix up your own beegarita, there’s not much to it! You don’t even need to use a cocktail shaker with this one, which makes it even easier. Here’s what to do:

1. Rim the glass with salt. Salt enhances the sweet and sour flavors in the drink, and gives you that classic margarita flavor.
2. Stir together in the serving glass. Take that tequila, lime juice, and Cointreau, and stir it together in the mixing glass.
3. Add ice and pour in beer. Then just pour in chilled beer! The beer adds just the right bubbly carbonation to this classic drink.

Salt rim optional!

For this beer margarita, we skipped the salt rim for a little variation. (Hey, we have 15+ margaritas and they all have a salt rim!) You don’t need it for the flavor! But if you love that classic margarita salty zing, feel free to add it prior to mixing up your beergarita.

The best salt for a salt rim? Use kosher salt or flaky sea salt, since they have the best texture. But if you want to make it look even more festive, try a batch of our Margarita Salt. The green and orange colors of lime and orange zest look beautiful against the glass.

When to serve a beer margarita

The beergarita is really perfect for anytime you’d serve a regular margarita! It’s great with Mexican-style food of all kinds: serve with shrimp tacos, guacamole, salsa, and grilled corn for a stellar meal. Or serve it as a:

• Happy hour drink
• Summer patio drink
• Dinner party drink
• Late night drink
• Guys or girls night drink
• Cocktail hour drink

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More margarita recipes

We’ve got all sorts of variations on the classic marg outside of this beerita! Pick from one of these best margarita recipes:

• Classic: Simple, Cointreau, Patron or Triple Sec
• Light: Skinny, Virgin, or Frozen
• Boozy: Mezcal or Cadillac
• Fruity: Mango, Peach, Watermelon, Blackberry, Strawberry, Pineapple, or Grapefruit Margarita
• Spicy: Jalapeno Margarita or Pineapple Jalapeno
• Unique: Italian Margarita, Blue Margarita or Beer Margarita
• Batch: Margarita Pitcher or Margarita Mix