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AKA:
Radler,
Alsterwasser, Alster
Pronunciation guide for English-speakers:
"Rahd-luh-mahss"
Definition:
What does a German drink, when he or she wants a low-alcohol beer, but does
not want to resort to a "light" brew? Radlermass or Alsterwasser
(its northern German name) to the rescue — a beverage that is a half-and-half
mix of blond lager (usually Pils or Helles) and lemonade. This drink originated
in Bavaria in the early 20th century, but it is now bottled and canned premixed
and available in all of Germany. However, it generally does not make its
way across the sea to North America.
Related beer style:
Russ
Radlermass
— The Cyclists' Beery Thirst Quencher
On your
next trip to Germany, try a Radlermass if you are in the south of the country
or an Alsterwasser, if you are in the north. And when you do, savor the
beverage's peculiar story:
The
drink was invented in the Roaring Twenties by Franz Xaver Kugler, a fellow
who is as home-grown a Bavarian as pretzels
and lederhosen. Herr Kugler 
was
a railroad worker turned innkeeper who opened his watering hole, the Kugleralm
(meaning: Kugler's alpine meadow), toward the end of the nineteenth century
in a little place called Deisenhofen, some 12 miles outside Munich. When,
after World War I, bicycle riding became a popular pastime in Germany, Herr
Kugler arranged for the construction of a bike trail through the forest,
from Munich straight to his establishment—only to get himself into
trouble…almost. He had not planned for what businessmen
call the up-side risk, when, on a fine Saturday in June 1922, some 13,000
cyclists descended upon the Kugleralm and demanded beer. They almost depleted
Franz Xaver's stock of brew.
The
Kugleralm without beer would have been a catastrophe! But the quick-thinking
innkeeper had a bright idea. He had several thousand bottles of clear lemon
soda in his cellar, a beverage that had proven virtually unsaleable to his
beer-loving Bavarian public. To
save the day, and to get rid of what he considered
some useless inventory, he mixed this lemon soda with his remaining beer
at a 50/50 ratio and proudly declared that he had invented this concoction
deliberately just for the cyclists so that they would not fall off their
bikes on their way home. He called the mixture
a Radlermass (Radler means cyclist in German, Mass means a liter of beer).
In Herr Kugler's case, need became the mother of invention. 
Thus was created what is perhaps the Bavarian equivalent of the British shandy (which is a mixture of beer and ginger beer). Herr Kugler's "cyclist's liter" quickly became so popular in Munich that other beer gardens saw themselves compelled to offer the same mixture as well. The new drink became a lasting success, and to this day, you can still buy Radlermass in beer stores all over Germany, and the Kugleralm is still going strong as a beer garden with seating for over 2,000 guests.
The
northern Germans, not to be outdone by their Bavarian cohorts, came up with
their own version of the Radlermass, but, of course, they had to change
the name. They called it Alsterwasser ("Alster water," so-named
after the little Alster River that flows through
the center of Hamburg and empties into the Elbe River). The
modern descendent of Herr Kugler's beverage
is often sold in "two-faced" cans, with one side showing
the designation Alsterwasser and
a sailing motif for the seafaring northern crowd and the other the designation
Radlermass and a cycling or alpine motif for the land-locked southern crowd.
In North America, you can mix this drink at home, of course: Buy a 6-pack of Pils, Dortmunder or Helles as well as a few cans of lemon soda. Mix the two in equal portions in a pitcher, add a few ice cubes and stir. It's a wondeerful summer quaffing drink, especially refreshing after an exhausting tour of lawn mowing.
