The Boilermaker Will Outlast Us All

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. 

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.”