my preferences for alcoholic drinks run toward sweet dessert wines, smooth whites, warming sake, and champagne. four years in England and I never picked up a beer habit, much less an affinity for the drink.
but that’s because most beers seem bitter and not quite flavorful enough (I’d rather have water, thank you) either for food-pairing or plain-drinking; and if you think the same – can I please introduce the tiger radler to you?
just in time for your lunar new year preparations, the can is decorated all festive-like – and the drink itself is redolent with the fragrance of mandarin oranges (which will go plenty well with thousands of the actual fruit actually being passed around over the 12-day celebration period).
and if you still don’t feel like you’d want to drink it (and I don’t see why, since it’s rather like a less-sweet, adult version of Fanta orange), it sure makes for a great base to a beef-and-carrot stew.
I admit to plenty of skepticism when we first opened the can – I mean, I don’t like beer, and would this just be a regular can of it with some orange extract?
but it totally isn’t. the drink is pleasantly sweet – I think it’s actual sweetness is close to a light beer like the kronenbourg blanc, but the smell of the mandarin orange intensifies that feeling (much the way vanilla does).
it’s very drinkable, both for me and my beer-appreciating partner.
we decided to throw it into our stew that night of (seared for flavour) beef chuck and carrots, with peppercorn grains throw in for heat.
the radler simmered away (skim as necessary) into a sweet amber broth – you’ll want to make sure you have enough soy and salt in there to balance the sweetness and bring out flavours, but as with all stews – it was great on rice.
we paired the beer and stew that night with spicy-tangy prawns and seared salmon offcuts on sautéed vegetables – there’s nothing like a home cooked meal (booze or no).
give it a go for the new year – it’s certainly more adult-tasting and interesting than the typical array of soft drinks out out during file visits, and hey – it’s a good-looking, celebration-worthy can.
thanks to tiger for kindly sending the cans over!
andmorefood 