How the Basic Boilermaker Got an Italian Makeover

Boilermakers have come a long way since the 19th century, when factory workers often ended shifts with a strong glass of whiskey alongside a leisurely lager.

In recent years, the definition of the Boilermaker has expanded to include any manner of shot-and-beer combo, or a harder spirit served alongside a lower-ABV beverage. The pairing is trending yet again, with specialty combos popping up at buzzy establishments. 

While shots of whiskey or tequila and pints of lager remain ubiquitous in modern Boilermakers, the combination of amaro and beer has become increasingly popular. This Boilermaker subcategory is inspired by Fernet-Branca and Miller High Life, a long-time favorite of bartenders across the U.S. 

Breaking down the amaro boilermaker

On the surface, the fernet-and-beer pairing seems simple: Fernet’s intense, minty bitterness creates a welcome contrast to Miller High Life’s easy-drinking character. The beer is even key to one of the other most famous Boilermakers, the Spaghett, a combination of Miller High Life and Campari. 

But there are flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel characteristics to fernet, Campari, and a lager like Miller High Life that act as handy reference points that can be expanded upon. 

“Pairing beer and amari together is just like creating a cocktail,” says Renato Tonelli, beverage training director for Dante in New York City and Los Angeles. “The main thing to look out for is balance between sweetness, sourness, and bitterness.”

He adds that it’s helpful to think of the amari as being  split into two main groups: lighter styles like Montenegro and Nonino, and darker, more bitter, and herbaceous offerings like Averna and Ramazzotti. 

“[You can] pair a lighter-style amaro with distinctive notes of orange peel and caramel with a bitter, hoppy beer like an IPA,” says Tonelli. “The sweeter notes of these amari balance the bitter woody and floral flavors from [the hops].” 

Darker amari often find balance in lighter beers like lagers. “The clean, crisp, delicate flavors of a lager provide plenty of room to play with, which is why an amaro with more personality is an ideal pairing,” says Tonelli. “They usually have a thicker mouthfeel to them which can provide texture to thinner beer.” 

How to make a bartender-approved amaro boilermaker

Once you’ve enjoyed Miller High Life with fernet or Campari and understand what makes these match-ups tick, it’s time to try some other bartender-approved combinations. Patty Dennison, head bartender at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Bar, favors a subtle upgrade on the former. 

“The Grand Army Hard Start plus Narragansett Light combo is a classic and hard to beat,” she says, referring to the bar’s signature 50/50 blend of Fernet-Branca and Branca Menta. “The minty, refreshing Hard Start chased with a crispy lager is just too good.” 

The Spaghett also has an appealing riff: combining Aperol with kölsch, a crushable German style of beer. 

“The grassy flavors and lemon zest notes in a kölsch complement the amaro’s herbal-orange flavors while balancing some of its cloying sweetness with a crisp, lightly hopped finish,” says Katherine Benecke, general manager at New York City’s Treadwell Park. 

Another one of Benecke’s favorites pairings is fernet with doppelbock. Fairly sweet and toasty, doppelbocks are malt-forward German lagers bold enough to stand up to fernet. “[Doppelbock’s] subtle chocolate flavors round out some of [fernet’s] ‘mouthwashy’ characteristics,” she says. “I recommend this to someone who loved those chocolate mint hard candies you used to get on the way out of restaurants.”

Beyond fernet, another industry favorite for Boilermakers: Amaro Montenegro. This Italian herbal liqueur is bitter, spicy, floral, and fruity, with touches of toastiness and balsamic vinegar. Benecke likes Montenegro with rauchbier, or smoked lager.

The versatility of Amaro Montenegro 

“Montenegro…is often ordered as an M&M shot, [or] half Montenegro, half mezcal,” says Benecke. “Rauchbier is the mezcal of the craft beer world, with the malt smoked over beechwood before brewing.” 

Other pairings demonstrate the versatility of beer-and-amaro Boilermakers. While the Amaro Montenegro is in the lighter category, allowing it to find flavor and mouthfeel balance with fuller-bodied beers like IPAs, there’s also harmony to be found in light-plus-light pairings. Crisp beers that add bubbles to amari work to create a more refreshing way to drink the liqueur. 

Charles Joly, creative director of food and beverage for Virgin Hotels in New York City, recommends Montenegro with a beer like Victoria, explaining that an “ice-cold, simple Mexican lager…lifts up Amaro Montenegro’s aromatic orange flower and mild bitterness.”

At Chicago cocktail bar Billy Sunday, lead bartender Noelle Flavin says her personal favorite is Montenegro with Helles Lager from Chicago brewery Dovetail. “I really love how the floral notes play off each other. When I serve it, I usually like a little grapefruit juice mixed in.”

The weirder, the better boilermaker

Beverage director of The Square in Washington, D.C., Owen Thomson, has found Boilermaker appeal in the Windy City’s controversial liqueur Malört. 

“I like pairing [low-ABV lager and citrus soda] Stiegl Radler with shots of Malört, as you have all the bitter grapefruit flavors of the spirit with the sweet, fruity parts of the radler,” he says. More novel pairings can be found looking at less ubiquitous beer styles. Sanchez loves Blanche de Bruxelles Belgian witbier and Averna, for example. Daniel King, restaurant and bar manager at Evelyn’s at Hutton Hotel in Nashville endorses amber ale, specifically Nashville brewery Yazoo’s Gerst with Meletti Amaro. 

“The beer’s flavor is not sweet but has a medium body with toffee-like flavors alongside a crisp hop bite and carbonation,” says King. “When I taste it…I think of Meletti, [which] has immediately apparent flavors of caramel and toffee, like an amped-up version of what we find in the beer.” 

King says that the similar flavors bolster one another, but the two also highlight unexpected notes in each other — the ale reveals more honey and grass, the Meletti more cola, orange peel, and gentian root.

That dual effect of similar flavors building each other up through contrasting flavors is what makes the pairing work. Between the amari and the beer, complex flavor and mouthfeel characteristics create delicious match-ups. 

Effortless and refreshing, amaro and beer pairings are just what a Boilermaker should be.