Photo by suburbannation

Dish of the Week: Beer cocktails
Where: CommonWealth

With the city gripped in the throes of World Cup fever, many people are filling the bars to cheer on their favorite teams playing the beautiful game. Along with that celebratory spirit comes the imbibing of much beer. If you’re an inveterate lightweight like me, starting so early can take its toll. Even session beers — those low in alcohol by volume — can begin to take their toll when you’re at it all day. Yet you need the steady booze to distract yourself during the long games. One way to do so and still survive is to enjoy a beer “cocktail.”

Around the world there are any number of variations on beer cocktails. The shandy is probably one of the most well known on these shores. Popular in the U.K., a half and half mix of beer and lemon-lime soda makes for a refreshing drink. Asking for it with a light summer ale such as Oberon or a citrusy wheat beer works well.

In Germany, the Radler or cyclist is a beer is mixed with orange soda (more juice-like than candy-flavored) to allow cyclists who stopped at biergartens to pedal on after stopping for refreshment. We know how well orange slices go with Blue Moon and the like, so it’s not a surprising jump to enjoy this flavor profile.

CommonWealth is one spot where you can find shandies on the menu. But it’s a simple and straight forward enough recipe that you can walk into any bar and ask the bartender to make your beer cocktail to your specifications. Try asking for one in between screams of “Goooooooooall!!!!”