In the dog days of summer, 1922, an industrious, Munich innkeeper ran into a little problem: thirsty cyclists, or radler, were consuming his stock of beer at an alarming rate while his homemade lemonade just wasn’t selling at all. At a risk of running out of beer (and losing patrons to another inn) Franz Xaver Kugler mixed the lemonade with his remaining beer and named the concoction after his beloved patrons – the Radler!
Although Mr. Kugler can be credited with the invent of this variant, the mixing of beer and soft drink goes back nearly 100 years before the thirsty cyclists congregated at that Munich Inn.
In the mid 1800’s, before political pressure from the colonies forced the Navy to switch a soldier’s tot (or alcoholic ration) to Caribbean rum, members of the British forces stationed at home could expect to receive a gallon of beer for their efforts. Sailors looking to stretch their ration of beer would mix fifty-fifty with ginger ale or ginger beer to make a Shandygaff. The term “Gaff” being derived from “Ginger” and “Half”. The Shandy was born.
In the years that followed, a Shandy became the overarching term for mixing soft drink, ginger beer or fruit juice with pale beers such as pilsner or lager into a refreshing, summer beverage. Across Europe, the variants just kept on coming: Kolsch and cola became known as a Drecksack while the Diesel was used more generically or when lagers were mixed with cola in Germany. In French-speaking Europe, a Panache was used to describe a lager mixed with lemonade. While in the UK, if you wanted mostly beer with just a little lemonade, you’d order a Lager Top.
But the name Radler stayed true to its origin – describing the mixing of a pale beer with a citrus forward beverage.
It’s in this tradition that we bring you our very own Radler. A complex and citrus heavy concentrate that allows you to go back to a time when a radler didn’t come in a can, but came about when a quality beer was enhanced by the addition of refreshing citrus flavour. Using fresh citrus zest and juice, as well as a host of other ingredients that add citrus complexity and work well with a good brew, we’ve created a product that turns any bottled lager, pilsner or pale ale into a delicious Radler that is sure to quench the thirst on any hot summer day.
8oz/237ml
Mixing Instructions:
Add 1 oz of The Third Place Cocktail Co., Radler to a bottle of favourite Lager, Pilsner or Light Ale in a pint glass over ice. Stir to combine.
Ingredients: water, sugar, citric acid, cinchona bark, lemon, lime, grapefruit, lemongrass, orange blossoms, lemon verbena, raspberry leaves, vervain blue, black currant leaves, fenugreek leaves, fenugreek seeds, bedstraw, wintergreen, eucalyptus, annato seed, seasalt, sencha green tea, potassium sorbate, hop flowers, matcha
