Elements of beer are apparent, but dry, pithy, clean grapefruit wins out. Long left for dead, Harpoon Brewery’s UFO Big Squeeze Shandy, 4.5 perecent ABV, is the hit for many folks. Basically Sprite and lemonade, with 4.2 percent ABV. Released in 2007, making up half of the Jacob Leinenkugal production, and ranking third behind Blue Moon Belgian White and Anheuser-Busch Shock Top in the specialty category, I don’t have to tell you to avoid Summer Shandy. Crisp, dry, carbonated, hint of sweet, very un-beer like. The classic is Stiegl Radler from Germany, a 2.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) mix of 60 percent grapefruit soda and 40 precent Stiegl Goldbräu, the brewery’s marzenbier. No category exists for these beer sodas, and the closest grouping seems to be that of fruit or vegetable beer - The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) says it best: “The fruit should compliment the original style and not overwhelm it.” This doesn’t seem to work well for shandy or radler, which are premixed drinks, so I suggest thinking of them as just that, half and pop, or beer and soda.Īvailable today, I’ve seen at least half a dozen examples. As the concoction caught on with the cyclists in the area, the drink both refreshing and not overly alcoholic, he named it radlermass, or cyclists liter.
The rarer radler seems to have a clearer history, wherein a Munich bar owner in 1922, running low on beer, used a lemon lime soda to extend the life of his drinks. Others link the beer, lemon drink mix to either an 18th century novel, Tristram Shandy, or the American novelist Christopher Morley, who wrote in 1918 about the shandygaff, a beer/soda mix favored by the working class.
The shandy appears to hail from England, possibly as far back as the time of Henry VIII, who is purported to have created a half ale, half ginger beer concoction. Adding fruit, vegetables, or the essence of either is not new to the brewing world, nor is the classic beer pop.
More dissimilar still is this bastardized version of a beer Arnold Palmer - half beer, half lemon soda. Yet fruit beer is a very different story. Especially in summer, cold fruit from the fridge just hits the spot. Totally subscribe to the apple a day belief. I’m a huge fan of fruit, always have been. Not the classic fruit beer, mind you, but the shandy and radler game that is proving to be the big hit of summer 2014. One recent trend in the beer world seems to be the rise of the pre-mixed beer and fruit soda. Further, there are trends within this larger trend, sub-fashions of a larger progression, and while craft beer is picking up steam with the wider market, undercurrents are always moving beneath the surface. The craft beer movement in this country is running strong and wide and it’s hard to find places or people who either aren’t on the train or haven’t been affected by it. Now, I have folks emailing and texting me to see if I’ve had the latest brew or stopped in the hottest locale. I can think of numerous friends and acquaintances who, only a few years ago, wouldn’t have been unable to listen to me discuss the newest styles or recent seasonal releases, much less actually drink those pretentious beers.
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