A beer and a shot. It's a classic combination, one you'd assume was beyond improvement. But now you can streamline the process, thanks to the masterful brewer-distillers at Uerige in Düsseldorf, Germany. Stickum beer-based spirits--part of a growing genre known as "beer brandies" or bierschnaps--include several bottlings distilled from two limited-edition brown ales (Sticke and Dopplesticke, respectively). In this form, the intense, malty complexity of world-class brews develops into spirited elixirs of remarkable fruitiness and pep.