Chicagoist's Beer of the Week: Stiegl Grapefruit Radler

By Jason Baldacci in Food on Aug 2, 2013 8:20PM

While we usually keep our beer of the week picks relatively local to Chicago, we do feel it's important to look at imported beers every once in a while, especially if they're making a significant splash in our local beer scene.

Stiegl Grapefruit Radler hails from Salzburg, Austria, but is imported to the United States by Louis Glunz Beer of Lincolnwood. For this beer, Stiegl uses their famous Goldbrau as a base, and then blends in a healthy dose of grapefruit soda. The soda is made with real fruit juice, so when mixed with the beer, the result is a tart, cloudy, and very refreshing drink for a hot day. The blend of Goldbrau and grapefruit soda is 50/50, so while the beer is quite dry and slightly bitter, the soda lends a very present tartness, along with a hint of sweetness. Since half of this beer is actually fruit soda, Stiegl Grapefruit Radler is only 2.5 percent alcohol content, which allows you to drink just about as many as you could want in a single sitting.

While we can see why some people might not be too interested in a beer like this, we would challenge any naysayer to have at least a few sips on a sweltering day and not plough through an entire serving in no time. Stiegl also makes a lemon radler, which would normally be much more common to find than grapefruit, but Chicago has really taken a liking to the Grapefruit Radler, and we've even seen it show up as an ingredient in summer cocktail lists across the city. Personally, we don't tend to crave one when we crave a beer, it's an entirely separate craving all of its own.

Stiegl Grapefruit Radler is available in bottles, tall boy cans, and on draft. Check beermenus.com to see where you can find it this weekend.