Recipe: Sour Beer Punch

Sour Beer Punch

Serves 4

Sour Beer Punch A nice, gentle concoction for lunch under an oak tree, while you munch on Molasses-Glazed Chicken Wings (see book for recipe) from the picnic basket and survey your domain (whether it's your very own ranch or the local park).

3 lemons
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup chilled grapefruit juice
1 can light beer
Lemon slices, for garnish
Maraschino cherries, for garnish

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from lemons, leaving behind the white pith, and set aside (reserve the peeled lemons). In a saucepan over high heat, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Add the lemon zest and remove from the heat. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Remove and discard the lemon zest from the mixture and let it cool to room temperature.

Juice the peeled lemons. Add the lemon juice and grapefruit juice to the sugar mixture. Pour into a large serving pitcher and chill for at least 2 hours. Just before serving, stir in the beer. Serve in glass mugs, garnished with the lemon slices and cherries.

Recommended Listening

"Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms," by George Jones, from Life Turned Her That Way

Buy the Book!

Cowboy Cocktails:
Boot-Scootin' Beverages and
Tasty Vittles from the Wild West
By Grady Spears and Brigit L. Binns
Ten Speed Press, May 2000
Paperback, $14.95
144 pages, full color photos
ISBN: 1-58008-077-4
Recipe reprinted by permission.