Make the shandy a springtime standard

Most serious cocktail drinkers might balk at the idea of a beer cocktail. Most serious beer drinkers might do the same. But skilled bartenders know that beer can serve several purposes in a mixed drink: A light lager can lengthen a drink, adding a snappy fizz and subtle maltiness, while a just a small measure of stout can lend it some heft or mouthfeel without overshadowing the other ingredients. Or, all pretenses and flowery language aside, a beer cocktail can simply be a shandy, a straightforward warm-weather quencher that, legend has it, dates back to the English pubs of the mid-1800s, when barmen served “shandy gaffs,” a mix of beer and ginger ale, allegedly designed to stretch out the beer supply. Today, a shandy — beer combined with fruit juice — is more of a category than a specific drink, and as with any simple formula, it can bear the brunt of various modifications and take on many guises. At East Boston’s Cunard Tavern, beverage director Joe Camiolo puts a jazzy twist on the proceedings, mixing fresh grapefruit and the sweet Italian aperitif Aperol, giving the drink the quality of a spritz’s lawn-chair-lounging cousin. Welcome to your springtime standard.

Grapefruit Shandy