I travel a lot for various brands. In the course of that travel I drink a lot of cocktails, spirits, wine, and beer. The thing is after several days in a row of rolling hard and being crazy what I really want is something light easy and refreshing. This is also pretty much true of any time I’m in New Orleans. To me there’s not a whole lot more refreshing and also hangover curative in a really gentle way than a shandy. It’s really hard to screw up a shandy. (Caveat – RTD shandies should be banned from the face of the earth, they are an abomination before any god you care to name.)
The maltiness of a nice light beer – especially a Belgian beer, seems to meld just right with lemon and just a bit of sugar. The combination bringing craptons of refreshment and restorative powers to you. There’s just enough alcohol in the beverage to get the screaming monkey of hangoverness off your back. Have a few more and not only are you going to start working on a nice comfortable buzz but you’ve also managed to re-hydrate yourself. Man, I really want one now.
1 pint of beer, preferably a pilsner or wit
2 ounces of lemonade
Combine in a glass and enjoy.
B E E R M I X O L O G Y 
Its called a Radler. Its traditionally served with a blend of German Hefe and lemonade, but in more recent times, lemon citron has also been used.
Besides, if it was a shandy, wouldn’t you have to use some sort of English ale?
I found that shandy was being used as a generic term for anything involving lemonade and beer
Cider and beer is a Shandy. Its usually English. I haven’t heard of it being Belgian, American, etc, cider, but it certainly could warrant some research into the books on the subject matter.
Great comments everyone. But I do believe that, by today’s standards, the term “shandy” is used as a parent category for any drink where beer is mixed with citrus-flavored soda, carbonated lemonade, ginger beer, ginger ale, or cider. According to Wikipedia: “The Radler (“cyclist”) is a Biermischgetränk that has a long history in German-speaking regions. It consists of a 50:50 or 60:40 mixture of beer and German-style lemonade (not American-style lemonade but sparkling lemon soda (e.g., Sprite or 7 Up)”
Now, I’m not a stickler for semantics, so I think that the word shandy works fine in this situation. Call it the “Americanization” of the beverage 🙂
My bad on that last comment. With further research, a shandy can refer to lemonade and beer in a mixture. Mind you, it is still English brews that are being referred to. I am curious as to how the UK got a hold of lemons to make such a thing popular in the late 19th century, do you have any light on that subject?
A lot of that had to do with the Royal Navy and the various chartered companies. Being a mercantile and naval empire, England had a vested interest in holding scurvy at bay. Therefore, every form of anti-scorbutic got tried at one point or another.
My first encounter with the drink was actually in a Belgian bistro and had some French name I cannot for the life of me remember now.
The French version of beer with lemon soda is is called a “Panache” with an accent over the “e”, (which is something I still don’t know how to do)
We need better source material, so of course my first question is, what does Michael Jackson have to say on the subject?
Good question. I’ll flip through my copies and see what he had to say.
And btw Rocky, I hope I see you when I am in Seattle this coming May to celebrate my latest book: Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. Love to know what you are doing with beer cocktails…beyond the shandy/panache.
Hi Alice! I’d love to meet up. I’m also down in the Bay Area pretty often.