Author Notes
I spent last year studying in London, and on hot summer days, my roommate and I used to sit outside on our patio, or in one of the beautiful public parks in London (hurrah for lack of public drinking bans!) and drink shandy, a delicious mix of lager and lemonade. I've updated the recipe to use Meyer lemons, which are available at my local market these days, but regular lemons work just fine! - ChristineB —ChristineB
Test Kitchen Notes
This shandy is well-balanced, with just enough sweet lemonade to give the beer an edge without taking away from the pleasure of a nice cold one on a warm afternoon. Making the lemonade with a simple syrup makes sure it's smooth and evenly sweet. The lemonade melds nicely into the beer for a super-refreshing drink. - Stephanie
—The Editors
Ingredients
- For the Meyer lemonade
-
1 cup
Meyer lemon juice (or regular lemon juice)
-
3/4 cup
sugar
-
3 cups
water
- For the shandies
-
2
12 oz bottles of lager, chilled (I like New Belgium's Blue Paddle Pilsener, but you can use any crisp, refreshing lager!)
-
1 cup
Meyer lemonade, chilled
Directions
-
Make a simple syrup with the sugar and 1 cup of water. Cool to room temperature.
-
Stir the simple syrup together with the lemon juice and water. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Note: this makes a very strong lemonade, which I prefer when making shandies because then the lemon flavor is more pronounced without diluting the beer too much. If you want to drink the extra lemonade plain, without beer, I suggest diluting it further with cold water and lots of ice.
-
Pour the beers into two chilled pint glasses. Top with half a cup of the lemonade each (hence the name "lager top" for a shandy that's made with a fairly larger ratio of beer to lemonade). Enjoy in the sunshine!
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