The Riders of Plenty
On a hot summer afternoon in June of 1922, Franz Xaver Kugler, the owner of a Gasthaus high in the Deisenhofner Kugler-Alm in Bavaria realized that he did not have enough beer to accommodate all of his guests for the day, both bicyclists as well as mountain hikers. Hence, he decided to offer his remaining beer, as a mixture of beer and lemon-lime soda of which he had an ample supply, and thus he nick-named his newly-found drink after the bicyclists, the "Radler" ...
I first tasted this amazing drink in Munich. How I got there is another long story...
I was on my way back from Vienna, and I initially wanted to stop over at Salzburg, bu
t when the train got there, it was raining, and clouded. So I decided to stop over at Munich to enjoy my remaining weekend. On the way from Salzburg to Munich, an American father-son duo got on the train and entered my compartment. Weirdly, I was all alone until they entered. I
nfact I slept in the same train all night when it was stationed at Vienna.. ok.. I'm digressing now. So, this grumpy-pringles-eating-couple hated Salzburg, and could not stop complaining. Initially I was happy that I didn't get off as these people were saying it wasn't worth it. Later I realized that they were just being American. I tried to keep a conversation going with them for as long as I could, and I finally decided to take a nap. (Couldn't tolerate them anymore!)Unfortunately, when I got to Munich, it was raining there too!! This time I had no alternate plans. I knew of just 2 train schedules to get back home. One from Salzburg, and another from Munich! So, Munich it was. I got off, and took out my newly acquired thin plastic rain coat. It made me like a cross between a giant packed watermelon walking around on his own, and a mobile advertisement for a communication company, but it kept the rain out nevertheless.
So, my agenda as usual was to roam around the streets aimlessly, and give myself 2 hours before departure to find my way back to the Bahnhof. I also wanted to see the
Frauen Kirche, the landmark church in Munich. On my meal agenda again as usual was the local delicacy, weisswurst, with sweet mustard. I
wandered aimlessly, and cluelessly following whatever little part of the track was visible from inside my plastic cocoon, and I reached the city centre. Now weekends are boring in Europe, its a sleepy place, and all the shops are closed, there is no one out on the roads, and the entire place looks rather desolate.I didn't exactly know what to do next. I wasn't hungry and I could see the twin towers :) of the Frauenkirche in the distance, so I started off in their general direction. To cut a long story short, they were rather disappointing considering even the most arbitrary churches in Germany were breathtaking.
Back to my story, so I walked back to the city Markt Platz, and entered an old Bier Garten,the kinds they show on TV during Oktober Fest. Long dark wooden tables, huge glasses of Bier and Plump pink waitresses! Here I ordered Weisswurst/senf and a Radler to go
with it. T
his drink completely overshadowed the food! It was amazing, almost sweet, and yet it had the distinct taste and body of beer. If it werent so expensive, I would had a few more, but I just decided to wait to get back to Siegen and get myself some bottles!In Siegen, I tried the Radler from the local brewery, Krombacher. This I distinctly remember did not taste as good, for reasons unknown to me. Some part of the taste was lost owing to my humble lodgings, but the taste itself was a bit different. There is another story about the Krombacher brewery, but I'll leave that for another time..
Some internet sites have some rather innovative recipes for making Radler at home. The original recipe ofcourse contains one half sweet lemonade, but some sites recommend sprite and what not. Although I have never tried mixing it for myself, I feel that mixing lemonade into pre-carbonated beer will end up making the concoction flat. Sprite may be a better option. I'll quote some of the recipes here:
You can make your own Radler by mixing 1 part German beer to one part lemon-flavored soda such as 7-Up.
or
1/2 Beer
1/2 Sweet Lemonade (I suggest using soda)
If however you can get your hands on bottled Radler, in any of its forms, you must try it!
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