I have been (not so) patiently waiting for this beer to hit shelves in New York since it last left shelves. Shandy season is my favorite time of year….and there’s good reason for it. I. Love. Summer Shandy. In fact, I love it so much that I am willing to pay the exorbitant six-pack prices here in New York. And…on to the review!
So…what is shandy? Shandy is the term for beer mixed with lemonade. If you took Leinie’s Honey Weiss and mixed it with lemonade, you’d get Summer Shandy. Leinie’s calls it “the perfect summer refresher” and I completely agree. After a hot day of laying on the beach or sitting out on the balcony reading, all I want is one of these.
Summer Shandy is light, crisp, and very citrusy. You can tell it’s brewed with lemonade just by smelling it. It has a lovely golden color and pours fairly clear with a decent head. I could drink this beer for days. Literally, ’cause it’s only 4.2% ABV. It is not bitter at all, so for those of you who don’t like the taste of hops, this is a good one for you.
I don’t have any “try this if you like these” suggestions because I’ve never had a shandy from any other brewery. If you know of one, I’d love to try it. (Side note: mixing Berry Weiss with lemonade makes it a hundred times better.)
Now, maybe this beer technically isn’t worth five stars, but this is MY blog and this is one of MY favorite beers, so take that, arbitrary rating system.
May 13, 2011
Robin
6 responses to “Leinenkugel’s: Summer Shandy”
Sean
May 18th, 2011 at 23:30
I tried this shandy for the first time, and I have tried many many shandies in my day. I lived for a few years in Germany and shandies are really popular and most major breweries have a shandy (made with their own beer) available in bottles, or bars will mix them for you. The lemonade wasn’t bad at all, and better than the sprite or fanta I was used to, but I’m just not a fan of Leinenkugel beer, it’s got a bit of a dirty, bitter taste and you could really taste it in the beer. You can check out my thoughts here if you’re curious: http://www.barleybuddy.com/89837_By_Region/89491_American/151327_Leinenkugels_Summer_Shandy
Robin
May 22nd, 2011 at 12:45
Thanks for the comment! I tried a mix of beer and Coke when I was in Germany about 8 years ago (I forget what they called it.) I would love to try other shandies but they aren’t very popular in America. Any recommendations for ones I could attempt to find? Or ones to try whenever I get back to Germany?
As you can see from the review I’m a huge fan of Leinie’s, but I know it’s not that great of beer. However, it’s cheap and usually tastes pretty good, which is more than you can say for most cheap beer in America.
Lora
May 26th, 2011 at 19:44
Where in the world can you buy Summer Shandy in NYC? I’ve been trying to find a place that sells it… I heard a rumor that Mercury Bar has it, but if there are six packs floating around in this city… 🙂
I’m originally from WI and have a huge obsession with this beer 🙂
shandie
November 7th, 2011 at 23:50
im not a big beer fan but my name is shandie so i really hope to try one of these one day! 😛
Linda Thibodeaux
May 26th, 2013 at 17:58
My daughter’s name is Shandi. Can you tell me if we can buy this in Louisiana?
Robin
June 24th, 2013 at 19:44
Summer Shandy should be available in all 50 states! It is usually released by April or May and sticks around until August or September.
2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks
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