The Bartender-Approved Way to Make Cheap Beer Taste 10x Better

There's a beauty to cheap beer, especially in the summer. It's easy to find, it's easy to drink and it won't break your budget—but sometimes we wish those cheaper beers had just a little bit more going on. Enter a magic ingredient that you can add to that inexpensive can to make it taste oh-so-much better: salt.

Related: Wait, What's the Difference Between Sea Salt and Himalayan Salt?

Why You Should Add Salt to Your Beer

The hack begins with your handy dandy salt shaker. Adding a bit of salt to your inexpensive brew will enhance the flavor. Some people add salt to certain beers, like sours or IPAs, to enhance the fruity notes and reduce the bitterness. And for those "cheaper" beers, it's supposed to make the brew taste a bit more high-brow.

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Redditors (and bartenders) have been all over this trend for years. And if you've ever had a Michelada, you're familiar with how delicious the combination of salt and beer can be.

Over on the subreddit r/beer, some report that this is the norm for them. "In Texas we call that 'dressed,' says one Redditor. "Most bars in San Antonio have containers to pour salt on side of bottles or rims of glasses and at most liquor stores and gas stations sell beer salt at the register." Texans take beer salt so seriously that you're likely to find lots of flavored beer salt options when you want to crack open a cold one.

Related: 16 Best Low-Carb Beers

In Wisconsin, where the fan favorites PBR, Miller High Life, Schlitz and Hamm's are brewed, adding salt to ice-cold cans is commonplace too, with a typical move being adding salt and ice to a pint glass and then pouring in a bottle of Miller High Life.

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One brave (but...brilliant?) Redditor shared another salty trick: "I once added like a tablespoon of chopped pickles and a small amount of brine to a low-quality lager and it tasted much better. I saw that somewhere on the internet and decided to try it. Who cares, it's an inexpensive beer, right? I was amazed by the results. Not life-changing, but still pretty good."

Related: The 'Genius' Tomato Salad Ingredient That's Perfect for Summer

How to Add Salt to Beer

It's a two-step process you can't mess up: Pour your beer into a pint glass first, then add a pinch of salt. The salt will make the beer fizz like there's no tomorrow at first, so be sure to leave plenty of room in your glass when you try this trick. 

How Does Salted Beer Taste?

After trying salted beer I will say, this was a completely different beer after adding the salt (I used 1/4 teaspoon in a 16-ounce can). It wasn't as salty as the sea, but it was indeed less fizzy than the non-salted beer and tasted a little bit heavier.

Could I taste the flavors a bit better in the salted beer? Sure, but I was definitely missing the fizziness from the non-salted brew. This is one experiment I'm eager to try out again (perhaps with a different beer) and impress my friends with.

Up next: The Midwestern Trick for the Fastest & Best-Ever Homemade Lemonade