Essentials: Nebraska Red Beer

A Plains hangover cure

On game days and holidays in Nebraska, revelers across the state swap red beer—tomato juice or bloody Mary mix combined with light domestic beer, in a roughly one-to-two-or-three-part ratio—for coffee. Red beer’s origins are as opaque as the drink itself. A heartland cousin to Mexico’s michelada, it’s set apart by its simplicity. Some say the combination cures hangovers, and others that it’s just about the flavor. Regardless, it’s iconic enough that it has attracted attention from Eater, which called red beer “the Midwest’s cult-favorite morning beverage” in 2018. You’ll find it beyond Nebraska, too, particularly in the Dakotas and Minnesota. —Garin Pirnia

---

Garin Pirnia is a freelance writer who grew up in Dayton, but currently lives in the non-Midwest city of Covington, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. She’s authored two books: The Beer Cheese Book and Rebels and Underdogs: The Story of Ohio Rock and Roll. She has also written a couple of award-winning horror comedy screenplays, and she really, really loves cats.