This probably doesn't even qualify as a recipe, I'll admit, but it's so smackingly refreshing and summerlicious it deserves a whole page of its own. The story goes like this: in 1922, an innkeeper in Bavaria didn't have enough beer to accommodate the bicyclists and other guests, so he cut the beer with lemon-lime soda and it was a hit. He named it "radler," which means "cyclist." So, is this the German equivalent of Gatorade? Kinda. The beer tempers the sweetness of the soda, and the soda mellows the bitterness of the beer, and the result is fruity and light tasting and has half the alcohol of beer. In my experience, though, it's so good I drink twice what I should, so be warned. I like it with pale American beer (full honesty moment: Busch Light), but by all means, experiment with different brews.
Ingredients
12-ounce can cold lemon-lime soda
12-ounce can cold beer
Instructions
Pour equal amounts of the soda into the bottoms of 2 large glasses, then top with equal amounts of beer. No stirring required.
Excerpted from Good Day for a Picnic: Simple Food That Travels Well by Jeremy Jackson (Morrow Cookbooks, New York, 2005). © 2005 by Jeremy Jackson. All rights reserved.
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