Think Pink With A Campari-Spiked Shandy

Happy weekend, everyone, and welcome back to 3-Ingredient Happy Hour, the weekly drink column featuring super-simple yet delicious libations. Claire is in LA filming new food content, which means it’s time for another guest post.

This week, we’re making the most A.A. Newton cocktail of all time: One that contains both cheap beer and Campari.

[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/03/you-should-be-cooking-with-cheap-beer/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/niwml16ge8acz8ju2m4x.jpg” title=”You Should Be Cooking With Cheap Beer” excerpt=”Cheap beer gets a bad rap, but I’ve been choosing it over the fancy stuff more and more these days. Unlike heavy IPAs, generic lagers don’t compete with food or give me a hangover, and they’re an absolute joy to cook with.”]

Since I am a soft, delicate baby, I love a shandy. It’s like drinking a beer, but more refreshing and half as strong, so I can have a second without getting tipsy or sleepy. Plus, a shandy gives me a cover for drinking beer on ice, a practice that I think should be far more socially acceptable than it is.

Heavily inspired by “the Spaghett” — an in-bottle, Aperol-spiked Miller High Life shandy from Baltimore’s Wet City Brewing that I saw on Alex Delany’s Instagram a few months ago — my go-to drink has recently been equal parts crappy beer and lemon soft drink with a splash of Campari, served on ice.

It’s kinda tart, kinda sweet, bitter in all the right ways, thoroughly chuggable, blush pink and ice-cold. In so many words, it’s a perfect drink — and now you can make it yours.

Any light beer and tart soft drink will work here; my ultimate shandy is equal parts Pilsner Urquell and Polar Half and Half. Unfortunately, Urquell is offensively overpriced at my beer store and I’ve never seen Half and Half south of upstate New York, so I stick to Miller Lite and Limonata. I have no complaints.

Here’s what you’ll need to make a perfectly pink shandy of your very own, plus one for a friend:

• 1 355ml can or bottle of pilsner, wheat beer or mild pale ale
• 1 355ml can of tart citrus soft drink such as San Pellegrino Limonata or Polar Half and Half
• 30ml Campari

Fill two 950ml mason jars or beer mugs with ice. Divide the beer and soft drink equally between the two jars, and top each with 15ml of Campari. (If you’re drinking alone, reduce the Campari to 15ml total and keep the half-empty beer and soft drink cans in the fridge for your next drink.) Stir well and share with a friend.