This season, they overlap nicely with the trend of session beers—lower alcohol beers, typically less than 4.5% ABV—coming out on the market. Session IPAs, like Stone’s new Go To IPA (4.5% ABV) and Founders’ All Day IPA (4.7% ABV) pack a nice hop punch, but there are also tart goses, Berliner Weisses, and fruity, refreshing radlers to enjoy.
I, for one, welcome our new sessionable overlords and declare this the summer of the shandy/radler, a fruity beer blend typically made up of equal parts pale lager and sparkling lemonade or ginger beer. No need to sip it from a snifter or take detailed notes on aroma and body; just enjoy it straight from the can or even over ice. It’s a summer thirst-quencher that tastes great after a bike ride (radler literally means cyclist in German) or a run and pairs well with lighter meals.
The 2.5% ABV Grapefruit Radler from Austria’s Stiegl Brewery is a good place to start. A blend of Stiegl Goldbrau lager and grapefruit soda, it drinks like sparkling grapefruit juice (alcoholic Fresca, essentially) and is hard not to reach for at any time of day. Find it in six-packs of 11.2-ounce bottles, on draft, or in four-packs of 16.9-ounce cans—perfect for the beach or the stoop. Stiegl also makes a lemon radler style, but the grapefruit version has a nice extra kick.
Boulevard Brewing Co. Brewer Jeremy Danner, radler advocate and unofficial captain of #TeamRadler, gives the rundown of the Boulevard’s new Ginger-Lemon Radler (4.05% ABV) over on their blog. Their take is a base of Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer blended post-fermentation with freshly juiced ginger, lemon juice, and lemon extract, and is available in 12-ounce bottles in their Sample Twelve packs and on draft for the summer.
Two Rhode Island icons, Narragansett Beer and Del’s Frozen Lemonade, are joining forces to create possibly the most Rhodie drink ever: a ‘Gansett Del’s Shandy, to be released this April in six-packs of 16-ounce cans, according to Boston Globe beer columnist Gary Dzen. The recipe is still being tweaked, Narragansett CEO Mark Hellendrung told Dzen, but will be a blend of ‘Gansett lager and Del’s lemon concentrate and comes in at about 4.0% ABV.
Sam Adams Porch Rocker (4.5% ABV), made of golden Helles lager and lemon blend, will also be returning in their summer variety pack in six-packs and cans, and Harpoon Brewery is releasing a new UFO Big Squeeze Shandy, a 4.5% ABV grapefruit shandy, available in six-packs, twelve-packs of 12-ounce bottles and twelve-packs of cans. Finally, it would be remiss not to mention the classic Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy (4.2% ABV), which also comes in orange and lemon-berry varieties.
Or, you could try making your own radler creation. Mix one part base beer—a Pilsner is the standby, but any pale lager would do—with one part lemonade or grapefruit juice. (Or you could do two parts beer, one part juice, or just eyeball it all—it’s hard to mess up.) Spike it if you wish, with bourbon or gin or whatever is on hand, a splash of soda, and garnish with a lemon slice. The combinations are endless and endlessly refreshing.
Here’s to an endless summer!