This Unexpected Yet Refreshing Mixer Will Brighten Your Beer All Season

When the days grow longer and the sun starts to sizzle, it's time crack open a beer or mix up a few batches of fruity and refreshing summer cocktails. Even if you eschew tropical, liquor-forward drinks like the sea breeze or bay breeze (yes, they're different), you can still enjoy a light, crisp beer cocktail made with just two ingredients. Stirred together, a 6-pack of the light beer of your choice and a canister of frozen limeade create an icy cold, nuanced, and incredibly sippable combination.

While the beer offers an earthy bitterness with subtly sweet undertones, the limeade brings a tangy, sugary flavor that offsets the bitter notes, softening them into a pleasant malty flavor. The resulting malt mingles beautifully with the earthy nuances, marrying them with the beer's underlying sweetness for a shockingly balanced drink. It's important to note that adding sugary limeade to a pitcher of beer can cause an overflow of foam. Stirring until the limeade is melted will help redistribute bubbles and prevent disaster.

One of the best things about this batch cocktail (besides its simplicity) is that it's shockingly sophisticated for being made from relatively familiar ingredients. That means you can wow a crowd without breaking the bank, especially if you up the ante even more by serving it in a fancy-looking pitcher and elegant glasses, which will also help keep this tasty cocktail ice cold. Present each glass with an accompanying shot of tequila to turn this drink into a true beer-rita.

 You have a lot of options when pairing beer with tart citrus, especially since some beers are made to go with lime, such as Corona Light. However, there are some categories of beer you should just steer clear of, such as darker beers. The idea that darker brews are always heavy is a cliched beer myth that need to go away, but darker beers do usually have a richer flavor that clashes with lime and creates an undrinkable beverage.

Instead, look for seasonal summer beers and shandy blends that already have fruity notes or are infused with citrus flavor. Dogfish Head Sea Quench Ale is specifically designed for summer sippin', and mixing it with limeade would only enhance and elevate the tangy lime notes already present in the brew. If you're looking for a sweeter drink with a bite, check out Angry Orchard's green apple blend — the apples and limeade are sweet and tart, which balance each other nicely.

Of course, once you've tried this easy frozen cocktail one way, there's a very real chance you'll want to experiment with other flavors — and we say, go for it. Frozen lemonade is a safe choice to please a crowd, but you could also go with frozen orange juice blended with Blue Moon or Allagash White — just be sure you're pouring your beer with the right technique.