Drinks

Radler

January 31, 2020 by Jennifer

I’m sure you’ve noticed I’ve been a little quiet on the cocktail front this month. Well, that’s because so many people invoke the “dry-January” pledge and choose to skip alcohol for the first month of the year. I get it. After the holidays and the non-stop excess, both in the food and drink department, everyone’s looking for healthy options. No more sweets and no more cocktails. So, out of respect, I chose not to post a cocktail recipe for the month of January. But that ends now!

I know today is the 31st, but tomorrow is the first of February, and Sunday is the Super Bowl! Practically a national holiday that’s all about football and parties, it’s also the perfect opportunity to say goodbye to dry-January and enjoy a nice, tall cocktail… or several. While I usually choose something served up in a cocktail glass, nice crystal is hard to come by at Super Bowl parties. What you can find though are plenty of solo cups and lots of beer bottles. So, with that in mind, I thought I’d bring you a classic cocktail that’s super easy, and uses both beer and a solo cup (or pilsner glass): the Radler.

Like most beer cocktails, this one doesn’t require many ingredients. As a matter of fact, there are only 2: beer and a lemon or lime soda. If you think it sounds like a Shandy, you’d be right. The difference between the two though is that the German Radler combines lemon soda with a German pilsner while the Shandy uses ginger beer and a British lager. True, not much of a difference, but still a delicious option for the biggest football game of the season.

The Radler was created by German innkeeper, Franz Kugler in the early 1920’s as an act of desperation. The story goes, a horde of thirsty cyclists entered his tavern in desperate need of a drink. Unfortunately Kugler didn’t have enough beer to serve everyone, so he came up with an alternative that would stretch his beer supply while quenching everyone’s thirst. He added sparkling lemonade to his beer kegs. Kugler insisted that he made the drink especially for cyclists, so they wouldn’t be drunk when they finally chose to ride home. Because he invented the cocktail for a group of cyclists, he dubbed the drink the Radlermass, “Radler,” the German word for cyclist and “mass,” the Bavarian term for a liter of beer. The Radler, as it was known, was an instant hit and has been around ever since.

So, because this cocktail was made for athletes, why shouldn’t it be the drink of choice at a party about athletes? I mean, there’s going to be plenty of beer and plenty of football. Why shouldn’t there be plenty of Radlers?