We have a confession to make: We love orange soda, in all forms. It refreshes us on hot days. It rights us when we’re hung-over. And yet, it recoils most of our friends. “Oh well,” we tell ourselves as we guzzle its sugary goodness.
But now, we’ve found a socially-acceptable fix for our fruit soda habit, just in time for the last days of afternoon basking on our sun-warmed deck.
Stiegl Radler is a refreshing mashup of grapefruit juice and beer. Brewed by Stieglbrauerei in Salzburg, Austria, the canned concoction features 40 percent of Stiegl’s Goldbrau lager and 60 percent grapefruit soda (ergo low in calories). Beyond Austria, the rest of the world seems hip to the beerade trend with the Brits calling such a concoction a shandy. Meanwhile, the Mexican version, the michelada, adds spice to the citrus-beer mix.
Radler translates, in German, to “cyclist.” Huh? Apparently, the crisp beverage is considered more of a thirst-quenching sports drink, but we have our own American translation: less a LATAJO finale, more a perfect brunch accompaniment. Mildly tart minus the cloying character of our orange crush, Stiegl Radler delivers the malty backbone of beer with the particularly crisp character of lager. With only 3.2 percent alcohol, it makes for a merry day drink.
Last Saturday, we sipped one alongside our new kale and quinoa salad with squash, red peppers and feta. The clean Stiegl cut through the round flavors of the autumnal salad, and would do the same with the rest of our new fall plates including the revamped herbed omlette with cauliflower, kale and gruyere, and our new vegetable sandwich with roasted beets, pear slices, feta and walnut pesto.
Great taste aside, we love to look at the Stiegl Radler – with its eye-candy, retro-cool can design – so much so we made a tower of cans on our counter. Who can resist a place in the sun?