Belgian Cucumber and Lemon Wheat Beer Shandy with Garden Mint

Make a mint syrup: combine the sugar and water in a small pan and heat gently, stirring, just until the sugar dissolves. Take it off the heat, add the mint leaves and orange zest, and let it steep for 20 minutes as it cools.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 large English cucumber, half thinly sliced and half juiced
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 12 fresh mint leaves, plus sprigs to garnish
• 2 bottles (12 oz each) Belgian-style wheat beer, well chilled
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• Pinch of ground coriander seed
• Ice cubes
• 4 lemon wheels, to garnish

Instructions

1. Make a mint syrup: combine the sugar and water in a small pan and heat gently, stirring, just until the sugar dissolves. Take it off the heat, add the mint leaves and orange zest, and let it steep for 20 minutes as it cools.
2. Strain the syrup, pressing lightly on the mint. Do not squeeze hard or boil the leaves in the syrup, which turns the flavor grassy and bitter rather than clean and cool.
3. Juice half the cucumber — a blender pulse followed by a fine strainer works perfectly if you do not have a juicer. You want about 1/2 cup of pale green juice.
4. Combine the cucumber juice, lemon juice, cooled mint syrup, and the pinch of ground coriander in a pitcher and stir well. Chill this base for at least 1 hour; it can be made a full day ahead.
5. Fill four tall glasses with ice and tuck a few cucumber slices down the sides of each so they show through the glass.
6. Divide the chilled base among the glasses, filling each about one-third full.
7. Top each glass slowly with the cold wheat beer, pouring down the side at an angle to keep the head under control and the carbonation intact. Give each a single gentle stir — anything more and you lose the fizz.
8. Garnish with a lemon wheel and a slapped mint sprig, and serve immediately while it is still bracingly cold.
9. The shandy is one of Europe's great warm-weather traditions, known as a panache in Belgium and France and drunk on cafe terraces from Bruges to Brussels through the long light evenings of August. Belgian wheat beer is the ideal base because it already carries orange peel and coriander in its brewing tradition, so echoing those notes in the syrup makes the drink taste designed rather than diluted. Cucumber is the modern addition, and it earns its place: its cool, vegetal edge stretches the citrus and turns a simple beer-and-lemonade mix into something that genuinely belongs beside a plate of summer food. For a non-alcoholic version, swap in a good sparkling non-alcoholic wheat beer or plain soda water.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 180 kcal
• Protein: 2g
• Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 28g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 22g
• Sodium: 15mg