Orange Juice Shandy: A Beer Mimosa
Sometimes a Bloody Mary is too intense. Sometimes you don’t want to crack open a bottle of Champagne just to pour a mimosa or two.
Sometimes it’s just plain embarrassing to admit you want a bottle of beer with your egg platter. And that’s why the world needs more breakfast cocktails.
As part of the Bar Cart series on Good. Food. Stories., I’ll occasionally be focusing on these low-maintenance, low-alcohol, high-satisfaction drinks.
Better suited for before-noon boozing than Manhattans, Boulevardiers, and other potent classics, breakfast cocktails will start your morning off right, should you be in the mood for that sort of thing.
But they won’t wreck the rest of the day with a sugar crash and mild hangover.
I’m starting you off nice and easy today with a two-ingredient cocktail: the orange juice shandy.
(What’s a shandy? traditionally a half-and-half blend of a light-flavored, low-alcohol beer such as a lager with lemon-lime soda, lemonade, or ginger beer.)
For this drink, I must insist on fresh-squeezed orange juice. The taste of the bottled, refrigerated packages leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Literally, they taste metallic, sour, and absolutely nothing like the liquid that comes straight from the fruit.
Pressing an orange into a juicer is the hardest thing you’ll have to do for this drink, I promise you, and it’s vital to the balance of flavors that results. Just go with me here.
So man up and squeeze that juicy orange fruit, then pair its sunny elixir with a beer. But not just any beer!
Stay away from dark, malty beers like stouts, brown ales, and Belgian dubbels or tripels. You want a light, refreshing beer that already has a hint of citrus in its brew.
There are a few styles of beer that pair well with freshly squeezed orange juice.
You could try a bottled shandy or radler-style beer that’s already infused with citrus juice, like Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, Sam Adams’ Porch Rocker, or Steigl Radler (made with grapefruit).
Or pick a wheat beer (hefeweizen) or Belgian white, like Allagash White. This style is brewed with a yeast strain that imparts a little bit of herbal spice flavor to the beer, which matches up nicely with the fruit.
If you are a fan of sour fruit beers like lambics and goses, you might want to experiment with pairing two kinds of citrus flavors. Raspberry, cherry, peach, and blood orange are just some of the options on the market.
Finally, if you’re a hophead, extremely juicy IPAs can work here–but be careful, because the line between hopped and overly bitter is a fine one.
So if you’re trying this combination, adjust the ratio of your orange juice shandy for a more 1:1 pairing of juice and beer.
Play around with your favorite flavors and brews and tell me your favorite combination.
Orange Juice Shandy
Instead of a mimosa at your next brunch gathering, try this low-alcohol orange juice shandy cocktail with freshly squeezed OJ and fruity beer.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (8 fluid ounces) freshly squeezed orange juice, from about 2 large navel oranges
- 1 cold 12-ounce bottle of beer, such as a Belgian white, hefeweizen, sour beer, or juicy IPA
Instructions
- Strain the orange juice into a small pitcher.
- Add the beer and stir gently to combine.
- Divide the orange juice shandy between two 12-ounce glasses.
- Drink immediately.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 474Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 33mgCarbohydrates: 58gFiber: 4gSugar: 26gProtein: 5g
The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate.
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Casey Barber
Casey Barber is the owner and founder of Good Food Stories LLC and a visual storyteller whose work often focuses on the intersection of food and culture. She is also the author of the cookbooks Pierogi Love: New Takes on an Old-World Comfort Food and Classic Snacks Made from Scratch: 70 Homemade Versions of Your Favorite Brand-Name Treats, and she couldn’t get anything done without the help of her executive assistant cats, Bixby and Lenny. Her favorite color is obviously orange.
Pretty photos, Case!
The dirty secret of those photos is that they were basically an excuse to eat a big old bagel with cream cheese. :)
I’d love this! I’m a big fan of citrus drinks, especially around the holidays- and I can say that because Canadian Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away. ;)
Aimee, I think I’m going to start celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving AND American Thanksgiving. If it means double the stuffing, so be it!
Very interesting. I have had beer and V8 in the morning [which is very tasty], but never with OJ.
Football starts early in the day here, and I think this might be the perfect bridge drink between breakfast and lunch for those lazy days.
Actually, this might be a good drink for watching 1 pm baseball games… maybe like I’m doing right now??
Wait, how did I not know about bottled Shandys? Also I’m planning on drinking this every morning of my vacation! Looks lovely.