A shandy has for a long time been a refreshing summer drink.
If that is your tipple, you now have a couple to choose from if you don't want to mix your own.
Nowadays, it is fashionable to call this beer-and-lemonade mix a radler (German for cyclist), and Dunedin brewer Green Man has joined Monteith's in offering what is still a shandy.
Legend has it that during the summer in 1922, about 13,000 cyclists and trampers had just about drunk an Austrian alpine guest house out of beer.
The owner mixed lemonade with the remaining beer to make it last longer, cleverly calling it radler and telling his patrons they could ride on without falling off their bikes.
Green Man's Radler (2.4%) is its 5% lager diluted with sugar-free lemonade concentrate.
It has a pleasant lemonade aroma and flavour, but would be more thirst-quenching and refreshing if tarter and more effervescent.
Try it at the Farmers Market in Dunedin or pop into the brewery in Grange St.
Monteith's Radler with lemon juice, which is 5%, was first released for summer in 2003 and has been available year-round since 2004.
Lemonade is not the only ingredient in a shandy.
In Ireland, a rock shandy has fizzy orange and lemon soft drink in it.
In South Africa, it includes soda water, lemonade and bitters.
In the United States, a third lemon-lime soda is a Cincinnati.
In Germany, a third lemonade and a nip of cherry liqueur is a Cold Duck.
New low-carbSales of low-carb beers are increasing rapidly in Australia and the United States as breweries encourage the health-conscious to drink beer.
The sales value of low-carbohydrate beer has more than doubled across the Tasman in the past year.
The latest to join the fashion are Australian brewer Toohey's, with a full-strength low-carb New White Stag, and Woolworths in Australia, which has launched Platinum Blonde to rival Carlton and United's Pure Blonde, which was released four years ago.
The Platinum, with 1.4g of carbohydrate per 100ml (less than half of a normal 5% beer) is the first in a range of beers Woollies intends producing under the Six Star Breweries brand for its supermarkets.
Neither White Stag nor Platinum Blonde is available here yet, although the latter should be available in the new year.
One new low-carb version seen on shelves is DB Breweries' Export 33 which, at 4.6%, is a stronger version of Export Gold (4%).
By leaving the brew to ferment longer, the amount of residual carbohydrates is reduced.
Export 33 has only 1.3g of carbohydrates compared with Gold's 2.8.
Most low-carb beers lack body and flavour, but this one is not too bad.
It has a fruity malt flavour, like the Gold, and little hop bitterness.
Other low-carb beers on the market include the 4% Haagen Light and Mac's Spring Tide.
There are about four calories per gram of carbohydrate, but seven per gram of alcohol.
So, for the weight-conscious, alcohol is the bigger enemy.
More of that in the next column.
