Shandy, Radler, or: Why you should put Sprite in your non-alcoholic beer
Want to know how to make mediocre non-alc beers kinda amazing? Or just looking for an excellent refreshing summer drink? I gotchu.
Growing up and going to college in Germany, summer time usually meant one thing for me: Time for a Radler! A Radler is basically the same thing as a shandy: a beer (usually a simple lager) mixed with lemon soda, like Sprite or 7Up. The German name “Radler” means “cyclist”, the idea being that after a long day of riding your bike in the heat, you’ll want something refreshing without knocking yourself out with too much alcohol, so that you can bike back home too. (My people… so practical!). Radlers are also popular with drivers, obviously, as it reduces the amount of alcohol they have in every drink. And they’re just super delicious!
Usually a Radler is somewhere between 30% and 50% Sprite, depending on how sweet you want it. And here’s the pro tip: if you’re ever at a bar that only has mediocre non-alcoholic beer (sorry Heineken 0.0), ask for a pint glass with 1/3 Sprite and top it up with the beer. NO ICE for goodness sake, my German grandfather would lose his mind if he saw that. Throw in a lemon slice though if you want to be be fancy. Radlers are a fantastic way to mask not-so-great non-alc beers and make them extra delicious! The contrast of hoppy, bitter beer with some light lemony sweetness is absolutely wonderful.
I recently started experimenting with different types of sodas and found that pretty much anything works actually. Grapefruit soda in particular is extremely good, and ginger ale goes well, too. I recently even dumped some Budweiser into a Shirley Temple 😂 Again, bitter/hoppy paired with some sweetness just works!
While many German beer brands already sell a Radler version of their popular lagers, US and non-alc beer brands are only just catching on: Athletic Brewing (in collaboration with David Chang) recently released their pre-made version of a Radler. While I find it really delicious, it’s a lot more lemony than a regular German Radler. They could be great when you’re on the go though… maybe actually biking!
