Ingredients
The bitter
- 20to 30 ml Amer Picon
- or another bitter orange aperitif
- chilled
The beer
- 250 mllager
- light and cold
- a French or Alsatian blonde
Sometimes added
- a dash of grenadine
- or cassis
- a slice of lemon
To serve
- in a beer glass
- very cold
- in a café
Directions
- Chill the beer right through first. Chill the Picon bottle as well. Both should be genuinely cold.
- Warm Picon tastes heavy and syrupy. Cold sharpens the bitterness up. Put the glass in the freezer briefly. Or rinse it out with cold water.
- Pour the Picon into the glass first. About twenty to thirty millilitres.
- Start at the smaller measure first. Pour the cold beer over the Picon. Judging it takes a careful look.
- Add a dash of grenadine or cassis. Some drinkers always take it that way.
- Serve it out very cold indeed. The bitterness turns cloying warm.
- Make every single glass of it fresh. The bottle keeps indefinitely. Keep it sealed and out of sunlight.
Technique
- This combines an eighteen per cent liqueur with beer, so the total alcohol is more than beer alone and it tastes lighter than it is — which is easy to underestimate over several glasses. Worth saying plainly.
- Pour the Picon into the glass first and the beer over it: the turbulence of pouring mixes the two, so no stirring is needed, and stirring beer only knocks the head out. Tilt the glass and pour down the side, straightening it as it fills to build a small head.
- Chill everything — beer, Picon and glass. Warm Picon tastes heavy and syrupy where cold sharpens the bitterness, and the drink turns cloying as it warms in the hand, so it is drunk fairly briskly.
Substitutions
- Amer Picon is barely exported and hard to find outside France; Ramazzotti and similar amari or other bitter orange aperitifs approximate it, though none is identical, which the atlas says plainly.
- A dash of grenadine or cassis makes the sweeter version some drinkers always take.
Variations
- Gaétan Picon created the bitter in 1837 while serving in Algeria, originally as a tonic — bitter aperitifs often began that way, containing quinine or gentian, and became social drinks later. The atlas records that as history and makes no health claim.
- Use about twenty to thirty millilitres of Picon: more overwhelms the beer and less disappears into it. The colour is the guide — a deep amber rather than pale gold, with very dark meaning too much.
- Use a light blonde lager rather than a heavy or hoppy beer, which clashes with the bitter orange.
History
A north-eastern and Alsatian café habit using Amer Picon, created by Gaétan Picon in 1837.
Frequently asked questions
What is Picon bière?
Picon bière is a cocktail from France: bitter orange Picon poured into a glass of beer. A north-eastern and Alsatian café habit using Amer Picon, created by Gaétan Picon in 1837.
How long does Picon bière take to make?
Picon bière takes 2 minutes of preparation and no mixing needed of cooking. The recipe makes serves 1. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Picon bière?
Yes, within limits. Amer Picon is barely exported and hard to find outside France; Ramazzotti and similar amari or other bitter orange aperitifs approximate it, though none is identical, which the atlas says plainly. A dash of grenadine or cassis makes the sweeter version some drinkers always take.
