Light and Refreshing, Yes: but is it Beer?
Written: Jul 24 '07 (Updated Jul 24 '07)
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Pros: refreshing, light, and crisp
Cons: neither great lemonade nor great beer
The Bottom Line: Leinie's Summer Shandy is a drinkable brew, but you can probably make your own shandy with better beer and better lemonade.
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| scmrak's Full Review: Leinenkugel Summer Shandy |
It's hot again. I'm looking for summer beer again. The Ms has been buying Schlafly's Summer Kölsch (out of St. Louis) quite a bit, and I have, as I do most summers, been looking into wheat beers; generally whatever's on sale (though Schlafly makes a nice Hefeweizen, too). But sitting there on the shelf next to Leinenkugel's Summer Wheat at my local retailer was something I hadn't seen in a long time - a shandy. Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, if you're keeping track.
Shandy (not Tristam, the beverage) is a traditional European summer drink that entails the mixture of another beverage - usually lemonade - and a lighter beer; usually at about a 1:1 ratio. Bass Shandy is perhaps the best known of the style on these shores, and it's not really well known at all. Note that this is not to be confused with the class of beverage called "hard lemonade," for it doesn't contain hard alcohol. Shandy doesn't have to be made with lemonade, by the way; I've had it with ginger ale and heard (but never tasted) it mixed with cola; and some Midwestern bars serve a mixture of draft beer and Schweppes Bitter Lemon. Leinenkugel uses lemonade mixed with a pale beer (pale malt and wheat with cluster hops), and what I saw is what I got. Here's my take.
The pour: I chose a tall, cold pilsner glass for decanting a bottle of this brew. A straight shot down the center of the glass yielded better than two fingers of faintly amber-tinted head, which showed enough staying power to hang around for at least half the glass. Bubbles were rather coarse, however, so there wasn't much lace and texturally the foam was a bit disappointing - just not as creamy as I would have liked.
Color-wise, Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy pours a milky-looking golden-yellow, almost opaque from the top to the bottom of the glass. It's even less transparent than your ordinary wheat beer.
The nose: The lemonade scent almost completely overpowers grain or hops, though as the head fades and the glass warms a bit the scents of grains and hops sneak out from behind the wall of lemon, lastly accompanied by a faint floral scent; perhaps the honey. At first scent, however, it's almost like a spoonful of lemon pudding or a slice of lemon meringue pie - probably too lemony.
The mouth: The admixture of lemonade with the pale ale/wheat beer seemed to cut the carbonation - or more likely the act of decanting, since straight from the bottle the shandy retains plenty of bubbles. A pronounced lemon flavor, as one might expect, overrides the more subtle grain and hop flavors. The opening burst of lemon hit me in the back of the throat, which was a little disconcerting. From start to finish it's quite sweet, perhaps from the added honey.
The Ms. tasted something "off" in her sample bottle, but that may have been from a poor food pairing - I didn't sense it even straight from her bottle.
Overall: A somewhat weak entry from Leinenkugel that's clearly intended to be a summer refresher instead of a hearty brew: refreshing is definitely a term that applies to an ice-cold quaff of Summer Shandy. At just 4.2% alcohol (by volume), it's light on alcohol; and on calories as well, coming in at 130 per 12 oz. (fairly low for regular beers).
Recommendations: This beer seems intended for taking the edge off your thirst after a hot day, not for those who like their malty-hoppy beverages complex. The overpowering lemon note and the through-and-through sweetness will probably appeal to non-beer fans, and it might even provide entry to the beer world for the wine cooler and hard lemonade crowd, but it's not a beer for brewing gourmands. One (or two) will probably be enough.
If you insist on a little citrus note to take the edge off your thirst, try adding a couple of ounces of fresh-squeezed orange juice to a tall glass of a good wheat beer. Yummy.
Availability: regional beer brewed in Wisconsin and not distributed more than a few states away from the land of cheese and brats. Where available, Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy is sold in 6-, 12-, and 24-packs of bottles and is also available on tap (not that I've ever seen it). Some Leinie flavors are available from coast to coast (except OK, WA, and UT), but - probably - not this one.
Recommended:
Yes
Beer Name: Leinenklugel''s Summer Shandy
Price per six-pack ($US): 6.99
Beer Rating: A solid performer
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