Saint-Omer Shandy, 10 x 250ml

Product Information

UPDATE: So much has been discovered since this post originally went up, about the dangers of quinine in people with quinine sensitivity. Big thank you to reader Jonathan for providing this informative link about this. I’m leaving this post up as an archive, but I encourage you to read that article first, and if you… In England, it is called shandy, or shandygaff. The same word is commonly used in Quebec and Canada. The most common use of gaff is as the name for the spear or hook used for lifting heavy fish out of the water. Another gaff refers to loud laughter (as in "his resounding gaffs filled the room" or "he gaffed merrily")—senses found in dialectal Scottish English. There is also gaff meaning "a fair" or "a place of lower-class amusement (as at a theater or music hall)." In a 1918 collection of essays entitled, fittingly, Shandygaff, American writer Christopher Morley links the word shandygaff to the lower classes, "Shandygaff is a very refreshing drink, being a mixture of bitter ale or beer and ginger-beer, commonly drunk by the lower classes in England, and by strolling tinkers, low church parsons, newspaper men, journalists, and prizefighters." As early as the 17th century, shandy was also being used in dialectal English as an adjective to refer to people who were wild, boisterous, or slightly crazy. Perhaps, the "place of lower-class amusement" sense of gaff and this sense of shandy were blended together. It's certainly not unreasonable to think that people drinking shandygaffs in lower-class establishments got a little wild—we just need to find evidence corroborating this etymology. Summer shandy: The summer shandy often uses lemon soda or sparkling lemonade as the mixer, which makes a refreshing, light and citursy flavor. We used wheat beer here, which enhances the light flavor. I remember being SO jealous that he liked beer because his shandy always looked so refreshing. It’d never fail: he’d ask me to taste it, but I have never even liked the smell of beer.

A traditional British shandy has had little problem with translation in crossing the pond. The difference in what you will be served in an American bar, as opposed to a British pub, if you ask for a classic shandy, may surprise you. Because I am a Brit living in the US, I discovered a huge error in American shandy recipes. There’s lots of variation for the mixer with the beer in a shandy! You can use ginger ale or ginger beer to make the classic old school version, or lime lime soda (like Sprite) or sparkling lemonade for a summer version. To make a shandy, mix together equal parts: Redcurrant Saison 6.3% (Brewed in collaboration with Mallinsons for Salford Independent Beer Festival) October 2016

19 Best Shandy Beer Recipes

Going by the book, proper panaché should be 50:50 beer and lemonade. Because it contains an alcoholic ingredient this drink is, in fact, alcoholic. Being mixed with a non-alcoholic ingredient, though, the beer gets watered down and that lowers its starting alcohol content.

Here’s a recipe featuring a fun twist for your summer favorite: the shandy beer! This one uses ginger, orange, and cranberry to feature the flavors of winter and fall and is still a light, refreshing beer! Later, shandy beer made its name as “shandygaff,” where brewers pour beer and lemonade together. Flash forward, and these beers slowly entered different bars, pubs, and our humble homes. Panach’ is a commercial brand created in 1979 by Heineken, a Dutch brewing group, and brewed for the first time, precisely at the Brasserie de la Valentine, in Marseille.

Classic panaché calls for equal parts beer and soda, but some people like their drink stronger. It is accepted that a shandy may contain up to 3 parts beer to 1 part lemonade. Unfortunately, people copy so many things off the internet (without proper research or giving credit) and so misinformation floods the web. After a certain point, it’s too late to fix it, but in this case, I’m trying my best! This is why it’s important to know and trust your recipe sources.

Whereas, nowadays, a shandy is considered a blend of beer with any nonalcoholic beverage, the original specifically was beer mixed with ginger beer or ginger ale. (Both ginger beer and ginger ale are believed to have originated as alcoholic brews but were then processed as soft drinks, making their names misnomers as early as mid-19th century. Typically, ginger beer has a stronger gingery flavor.) Another traditional mixer for a shandy is carbonated lemonade. There are a few variations on the shandy that have become popularized via the Leinenkugel brand. But you can easily make them at home: and they taste so much better homemade! Here are our favorite variations:When I told Dad about the lemonade mix up with the classic shandy, he couldn’t believe it. I suppose now it’s too late to get the message out as all of the shandy recipes I found online are use the wrong type of lemonade! This is much like the ricotta recipes I’ve seen flooding the internet: 90% of them aren’t for ricotta! Ricotta means “cooked twice” so it’s a specific way it’s made. Most of the recipes all are making cheese, NOT ricotta–ugh. If you watch this video where James Corden is bartending in Liverpool, the lady asks for a lemonade, and you can see that she gets a clear sparkling soda, not a cloudy, pale yellow lemonade as we know it in the US. A pub in London. What is a Shandy? Oolong Blond: 6.0% & Berry & Hibiscus Sour 3.5% (Brewed in Collaboration with Manchester Art Gallery and Canton Tea) November 2019 Runaway to the Fells: 4% Spiced Damson Gose & Walk on The Mild Side: 6.0% Dark Ruby Mild (Both brewed in Collaboration with Fell Brewery) July & November 2021

But yeah, personally if I want a sweeter stout, I get a pint of Mild. Mild is a type of beer that’s dying out, sadly, even though it’s absolutely gorgeous. It’s seen as an old man’s drink. It’s still very similar to a stout, and to be honest many of the real ale/microbrewery/craft beer “stouts” like the common chocolate stouts or vanilla stouts or oatmealare actually just Mild, but they call them stout because younger people don’t know what Mild even is. It’s a bad name, marketing wise, for the target audience of university students who want to party. Even though it’ll still get you drunk. But it you ever visit the UK and you see a pub that sells Mild, you’ve got to try it. In Southern Germany or Austria, this type of drink is called Radler, while in Northern Germany it is called Alster or Alsterwasser, after a river in Hamburg. It has an alcohol content of about 2.5%. Pour half of each beverage slowly into one or two tall beer glasses. It really doesn’t matter which you pour in first, just tip the glass to the side when you pour. At that time, Franz Xaver Kugler ran the Kugler Alm, which bears his name, and it was a café mainly frequented by cyclists. In Russia and in the southeastern German state of Bavaria, as well as in the Austrian countryside, a mixture of 50% Weißbier and 50% lemon soda is called Russ .

Why water down your beer? Two reasons: it tastes great, and it’s a low alcohol drink, which makes it more hydrating in warm weather. The shandy is to beer exactly what a spritzer is to wine! Since radler means “cyclist” in German, other sources now assume that the radler was invented at the end of the 19th century in one of the predominantly social-democratic cycling clubs. By the way, there’s no ice in a proper shandy! I saw recipes that instructed ice to be added! Egads! 😱 It is very important to not let yourself be fooled by the lowered alcoholic content. Another aspect worth factoring in is that if the beer-lemonade ratio is not kept 50:50 the risk is that your drink might contain more alcohol than you expect. The sweetness from the lemonade might make it hard to detect by the flavour. If you are driving and unsure, make your panaché with alcohol-free beer.