![Boilermaker Drink Trend](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.foodandwine.com/thmb/UrNbRWcrMwBFBei2Hvpmbs4bFdw=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Boilermaker-Trend-SUPERBUENO-FT-BLOG0623-958bf2a1156b4dbe841910088d28f4f4.jpg)
John Shyloski
With so many drinkers more conscious than ever of their consumption and sipping more slowly, it’s safe to say we’re in the golden age of low-alcohol drinks. It’s easier than ever to find vibrant, full-flavor non-alcoholic spirits, canned cocktails, or low-proof options, and as a result, we’re drinking half-proof martinis and tiny drinks — mini cocktails, like snaquiris and petite Bloody Marys, that offer high flavor at low-ABV.
But if we’re in the midst of a mindfulness movement, why are martinis more popular than ever? Better question: why are boilermakers back?
In the fall, NO BAR at The Standard in New York City introduced full menu of boilermakers— defined as a shot followed by a sidecar of beer, though the definition has expanded to include cocktails and more curious chasers — whether you’re craving a fernet-and-cola or a Paloma-ish mezcal-chased-by-grapefruit soda. “They’re happy hour staples,” says beverage manager Pape Konte. “They’re a solid go-to for unwinding after work or gearing up for a night out.”
At Chef’s Special Cocktail Bar in Chicago, proprietor Chase Bracamontes coaxes guests into trying traditional boilermakers — shoot your Cynar and chase it with a Hopewell Clover Club Raspberry Sour — but will also serve up more unconventional options. Want to order a glass of rosé? Bracamontes that argues you should prime your palate first with a shot of mezcal.
Across the country, at Brooklyn’s Llama Inn, bar director Lynnette Marrero offers up chasers of leche de tigre — a silky, savory, umami-forward marinade that’s the base for the restaurant’s ceviche. Meanwhile, at Superbueno, the buzzy new Mexican-American cocktail bar from former Ghost Donkey maestro Ignacio Jimenez, you can order the ‘Dashi Papi’ — a shot of raicilla, a bottle of Monopolio Clara dressed with hot sauce (made by Katana Kitten’s Masahiro Urushido), and a good slurp of birria broth. Squeeze a lime into the broth, sip the raicilla, the broth, then the beer, and repeat. (Fittingly, the bar is situated in the old location of Boilermaker, a bar dedicated to, you guessed it, boilermakers that opened close to a decade ago and shuttered mid-pandemic.)
Jimenez says the drink was inspired by his time working at Brooklyn restaurant Sweetwater during the pandemic. Two bartender friends came in and asked for a shot of the French onion soup to chase what they were sipping. It wasn’t on the menu, nor was it a shot the bar typically offered — the two just thought it would work.
![Boilermaker Drink Trend](https://www.foodandwine.com/thmb/4mJZuLdJqUAI5r4kDinvSHn8yQI=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Boilermaker-Trend-Sunnys-FT-BLOG0623-978c7e5847804213a01b798df0d2ccd1.jpg)
Gabriel Li
And it does. While boilermakers aren’t a traditional Mexican drink, Jimenez says that raicillas come from the state of Jalisco, where they have a strong tradition of birria. “It’s such a deep, intense broth and raicilla tends to have funkier qualities that you do not find in mezcal — it stands up against the birria,” he adds.” How the raicilla and birria go together and then is washed down with a refreshing Monopolio...it leaves guests surprised and amazed.”
Ultimately, these drinks are more than party shots — they’re thoughtful pairings and wacky little flavor explorations in the form of tiny drinks. They don’t need to be straight booze and beer — they can be high octane and savory (like Superbueno’s soupy chaser) or low proof and refreshing.
And while the pandemic did teach us to moderate our drinking — too many Zoom happy hours will do such a thing — it also punctuated a need for human presence; warmth, conviviality and community.
So when we did re-enter society, boilermakers felt like the perfect antidote to 2020’s isolation — drinks to be shared, sloshed, and sloppily clinked in real life. While the pandemic was defined by freezer martinis and Zoom happy hours, the slightly silly, social-driven boilermaker rules the after times.
Toronto’s buzzy Sunny’s Chinese started during the pandemic as a take-out only operation. When the concept evolved into an IRL restaurant in 2022, one of the first things added to the menu was a ‘Gunpowder Slap,’ which is a shot of baijiu and a local draft beer, followed by something thirst-quenching like a Daiquiri or a Paper Plane. They’re meant to be drunk rapid-fire, back-to-back, at the start of your meal. “We wanted to embrace the theater of dining and celebrate being close to people in the same room as you,” says co-owner and Chef David Schwartz . “The boilermaker really allows for that — it signals to the diner that it’s time to loosen up and have a little fun with the people around you.”
“In a perfect world, we would give a Gunpowder Slap to every guest when they sit down.”