Emasculated beer

In Australia, the very thought of watering down beer is almost criminal. In fact, bring a six pack of lights to a party or BBQ and you are bound to raise a few questions about your masculinity and attract some mockery. 

One such drink is the 'shandy' or put more bluntly, beer watered down with lemonade. It has the reputation of being a drink for the ladies, more of a cocktail than beer. If you were looking for it in a bottle shop, it would be right between WestCoast Coolers and Strongbow. If you went to dinner with your partner and ordered a shandy, the waiter would almost always place it in front of the female.

In Germany, however, the shandy has quite a different reputation and quite a different name.  Known as a 'radler', the drink's reputation  has a more historic origin with the story being that a group of cyclists stopped at a small pub for some beer. The pub began to run low on beer so they decided to dilute the beer down with lemonade. Instead of telling the cyclists that they were running out, they told them that they made this special drink so that they would not get too drunk before their ride. And this is how the radler was born... Or so a tour guide says anyways. 

In germany, a radler is not about emasculating beer but simply enjoying a drink. However, it seems that the entire beer culture in Germany is entirely different to Australia so this may have something to do with it.