The Ginger Shandy

The Ginger Shandy

Say you’ve got some friends coming over for a patio hang. You screwed the pooch on cocktails, and the liquor store is barely too far away. Enter - this ginger shandy. The idea here is that you can drink these all day long and still keep your head on straight. To that end - You start with a lighter beer, like a crispy pilsner. We’re going with Rainier -- a Pacific Northwest staple.

One issue with shandies is they’re often too sweet, or generally not very balanced. Bon Appetit writer Emily Shulz turned us onto using pickled ginger juice to add some spice and funk. Traditional shandies use lemon juice, but lime & ginger is an unbeatable combo, so that’s our citrus for this one. I’m including one of my favorite citrus tricks called “lobing”, which gives you a big juicy squeeze without any seeds. You can pretty much eyeball the ratios here.

Ingredients:

- Two limes
- One jar pickled ginger
- One can of cheap beer

instructions:

  • Prep your Mazama Pint Glass by shoving it (carefully) into your ice drawer to cool it down while you gather your ingredients.
  • Lobe a lime by slicing it thru off-center, removing a side (the way you might cut into an onion).
  • Fetch your pint glass, and drop in three or four pieces of ginger.
  • Pour about 1/2oz. of the pickling juice into your glass, then squeeze the lime lobe into the glass and toss that in too.
  • Muddle the ginger, ginger juice, and lime in the glass.
  • Top with cheap beer, and squeeze in more lime to taste.