A boilermaker is either of two types of beer cocktail. In American terminology, the drink consists of a glass of beer mixed with a shot of whiskey.^[1]

Name

The drink originated in Butte, Montana, in the 1890s, and was originally called a Sean O'Farrell and was served only when miners ended their shifts.^[2][3][4] When the beer is served as a chaser, the drink is often called simply a shot and a beer.^[5]

In England, the term boilermaker traditionally refers to a half pint of draught mild mixed with a half pint of bottled brown ale, in the South west of England it is also known as a 'brown split', although it also refers to the American shot and pint.^[6] In Scotland, a half and a half is a half pint of beer with a whisky ("a wee hawf").^[7] The use of these terms in Scottish and English pubs can be traced back to about 1920.^[8]

Drinking

There are a number of ways to drink an American beer chaser:

• Traditionally, the liquor is consumed in a single gulp and is then "chased" by the beer, which is sipped.^[9][10]
• The liquor and beer may be mixed by pouring or dropping the shot into the beer. The mixture may be stirred.^[9] If the shot glass is dropped into the beer glass, the drink can also be known as a depth charge.^[11]

Similar drinks

Other pairings of a shot and a beer are possible; traditional pairings include:

• Herrengedeck ("gentlemen's menu"), a German pairing of Korn (grain brandy) and beer^[12]
• Regenschirm ("umbrella"), a German pairing of Allasch and Gose.^[13]
• Irish car bomb (cocktail), a pairing of a shot of Irish cream and whiskey into a glass of stout^[14]
• Kopstootje ("little headbutt"), a Dutch pairing of Jenever (Dutch gin) and beer,^[15] term attested 1943^[16]
• Somaek or Poktan-ju, a Korean pairing of soju and beer^[17]
• The Chicago Handshake or Chicago Drive-by, a shot of Jeppson's Malört alongside Old Style beer^[18][19]
• The Citywide, sometimes called the Citywide Special, a Philadelphia pairing of a shot of Jim Beam and a Pabst Blue Ribbon^[20]