Citrusy twist to simple beer

You may think it is a waste of good liquor but the shandy is a rather popular way of drinking beer. A shandy, or shandygaff, is beer mixed with citrus-flavoured soda, carbonated lemonade, ginger beer, ginger ale, or cider. The proportions of the two ingredients are adjusted to taste, normally half-and-half. Non-alcoholic shandies are known as “rock shandies”. A shandy containing beer and cider is called Snakebite. Ranging from grenadine to gooseberry cordial, around the world shandy is made differently based on cultural palates and availability. In Jamaica, ginger ale is added to popular local beer Red Stripes to make a shandy. Canada is popular for its Black Shandy; a mixture of stout beer with lemon soda, also described as a Guinness Shandy. The idea is to take a mixer of your choice, preferably a carbonated, acidic one, and pour half of it into a half-full glass of beer. It’s fuss-free experimentation though traditional beer drinkers haven’t quite taken to mixing their drinks this way.