My partner absolutely loves onion rings, they are her favourite guilty treat. We will sometimes order in for them, we have a spot nearby that makes great onion rings and they deliver. Recently I started making our own. we don't own a deep fryer so I just used one of our deeper pans and put about an inch of oil in it. The recipe I found used is similar to yours except I used buttermilk in the batter. I think I will try the beer next time. Totally agreed on the onion issue, we like nice tick onions. Do you soak the onion first? I have heard it is good for softening it so it cooks better.