Ale Sangaree

If you are thinking that a sangaree sounds a lot like sangria you aren’t far off. We have quite a long discussion on the etymology of the word then turn to the Internet and Dave Wondrich’s book Imbibe for clarification. A sangaree is generally a wine drink with port or possibly sherry, but Jerry Thomas had recipes for brandy, gin, and ALE SANGAREEs in his Bartender’s Guide.

Here we are with more beer, more sugar syrup and, more nutmeg. What is it with all this nutmeg? Was beer that bad back then they had to doctor it up so much? Some fun facts about nutmeg: the Dutch traded Manhattan with the British for Britain’s last nutmeg producing island and a South American sugar producing territory, nutmeg is an abortifacient and pregnant women should avoid it, nutmeg is a hallucinogen in a large enough quantity, and nutmeg is a good spice for layering flavor. I don’t think the dusting of the drink was enough to cause hallucinations but the idea of layering flavor is an interesting one.

ALE SANGAREE
.5 tsp. powdered sugar
10 oz. chilled ale

Dissolve the sugar in with a few drops of water. Add the ale and dust with nutmeg.

Not a lot to this drink. This tastes like a slightly sweetened beer with odd aromatics of old nutmeg. It tastes like beer, good beer. We ended up again using Ballast Point Scottish Ale. There is really nothing to this.

SCORES:

James: 5. “Good beer, bad drink.”
Brian: 5. “You’re basically rating the beer and this is good beer. But as a cocktail I’d go 5.”
Eric: Abstains. “I would give this a score but I don’t believe it deserves one.”