The Shandy is making a comeback and this makes me very happy.  I love a Shandy and its sister drink the Lager and Lime.  You can’t call yourself British and not know what either of these drinks are.  They are staples at the pub and in the 70’s and 80’s, a Shandy was my mom’s drink of choice.  She wasn’t much of a beer drinker, so a Shandy was a nice substitute.

My Mom used to make the American version of a Shandy which is half beer, half 7Up or Sprite {we always drank 7Up.}  The British version consists of half beer, half sparkling lemonade.  The Lager and Lime is a beer topped with 2 oz. of Rose’s Lime Juice {don’t use fresh lime juice.}

On my last trip to Scotland I also had a Lager and Blackcurrant.  Delicious!  Blackcurrant is one of my favorite flavors.  I did some research to find out why we don’t use it here in the U.S. and found that blackcurrant farming was banned in the U.S. in the 1900’s when blackcurrant plants were considered a risk to the U.S. logging industry due to white pine blister rust.

Thankfully, the ban has been lifted in New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Oregon.  Yay!  I hope we start to see blackcurrant more, it’s such a great flavor, it reminds me of Scotland.

Sorry for the blackcurrant rant.  Back to drinks!  If you really want to get crazy you can go with a Brass Monkey, yes the same Brass Monkey made famous by the Beastie Boys.  That would be half beer, half orange juice.

Here’s a recipe for a Shandy that appeared in InStyle:

Sparkling Shandy

Serves 4

2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced and 1 for juicing

Ice Cubes

1 16 oz. pilsner beer

2 cups sparkling lemonade

1. Line glass with lemon slices and add ice.
2. Fill halfway with beer, and top with lemonade.
3. Add a squeeze of lemon juice.