Make Cheap Beer Taste Better With A Pinch Of This Pantry Staple

A good cheap beer is the perfect beverage for a hot summer day. Ice-cold classics like Bud Light, Coors, and Heineken are popular for a reason (and they're ideal for boozy popsicles). However, there's no denying that the flavor profiles of these more affordable quaffs are usually not quite as rich and complex as a more expensive craft beer. Luckily, there's an easy and budget-friendly way to up the flavor of any beer you find lacking: Add salt.

A pinch of salt is a simple and accessible way to make a somewhat blah beer a little more palatable; nearly everyone has salt in their pantry, and salting a beer is easy. If you find your beer needs a little extra oomph and want to give this hack a try, start slow with just a tiny pinch. A little goes a long way, and you can always add more later.

It's no secret that the right amount of salt makes almost everything taste better, and beverages are no exception. The obvious example is the salted rim of a margarita, but some people swear by adding a pinch of salt to tea or even coffee. Proponents of adding salt to beer say it enhances the malt beverage's natural flavor, making it more balanced and complex.

There is some science to back up these claims. Low concentrations of salt suppress bitterness, which in turn increases perceived sweetness. So if you're not a fan of the bitter IPA craze, a pinch of salt might be just the thing. Additionally, salt can temporarily help increase and maintain a beer's foamy head because it attracts and reacts with carbon dioxide, causing bubbles to rise to the top.

Beyond taste, some people think adding salt to beer can protect against hangovers. It's true that salt can prevent dehydration, and dehydration often contributes to hangover symptoms. On the other hand, salt can increase the rate of alcohol absorption, thus resulting in a worse hangover, so the jury is out on this one.

Adding salt to beer may sound strange to some, but the practice has a lengthy history. Beer dressed with a salt-coated rim has long been popular in Texas and throughout Latin America. The chelada is a popular Latin American cocktail made with just beer, salt, and lime juice, while its flashier cousin, the michelada, adds tomato juice, hot sauce, and other spices to the mix. You can even buy Texas beer salt in a variety of flavors.

It's unclear exactly when salting beer became popular across the United States, but many trace the practice back to the prohibition and post-prohibition era when beer (or near beer) was typically made with cheaper ingredients and thus benefited from a bit of doctoring. Almost a century later, mediocre beer still exists, and salt is still an easy and affordable way to improve the taste. So the next time you find yourself sipping a less-than-stellar beer, try reaching for the salt shaker.