Micro-brew American shandy?

June 8, 2007 9:48 AM

Is there an American maker of good ginger Shandy? I can get the Carib brand in my neighborhood, but the ginger flavor is kind of sucky. Alternatively, is there such a thing as an alcoholic ginger ale made in the US?

I know it's easy to make a decent shandy, I'm just curious about this.

posted by OmieWise to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

I've never seen pre-made shandy before, in the US or elsewhere. I'm more of a fan of the 7-Up version, but that's just because that's the way the restaurant by my house makes it.
posted by rhizome at 11:22 AM on June 8, 2007

I've never seen one in the south. Plus, I thought a shandy was lager and lemonade...
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:51 AM on June 8, 2007

Isn't a shandy supposed to be made with ginger beer, rather than ginger ale? Much more fiery that way.
Looks like there's a brewpub in Kansas City making it, anyway.
posted by fish tick at 12:10 PM on June 8, 2007

Response by poster: I thought a shandy was lager and lemonade...

Depends on your preference. I first had it as ginger flavored in Canada ~20 years ago, but the Carib brewing company makes it in several flavors, including sorrel (now THAT'S carribean!).
posted by OmieWise at 12:24 PM on June 8, 2007

I've made my own ginger ale, using this recipe as a base, but there are plenty of others out there. Since it uses yeast in fermenting, it worked out to be about 1-1.5% alcohol.

A gallon jug, some lemon, sugar, and ginger, and a few clean plastic soda bottles for bottling, and you can be on your way.

If you don't like the recipe I linked to, there are several others at http://www.brewery.org/brewery/cm3/recs/12_toc.html

I have not tried mixing any with an ale to make shandy. I'll have to try that next time I make some.
posted by fings at 1:04 PM on June 8, 2007

Not an American manufacturer, but it's apparently easy to find here - I recently tried a Fentiman's Shandy from my local deli, and it was quite good (bevnet reviews). It's 0.5% ABV so not exactly a cocktail, but a hair closer to the real thing. I say it's easy to find, because I also saw it at the national chain grocery store when I was in Montana and all sorts of places in NYC and Brooklyn. They have a Ginger Beer, which I have not tried, and a Dandelion and Burdock soda that might be my new favorite. There are probably a few places on the web that would ship you a case.
posted by milovoo at 2:01 PM on June 10, 2007