The Good Cop and das Radler

Author and artist Peter Steiner joins us today on Drinks with Reads to talk about his book, The Good Cop. You can read about Peter approached the beginning of this book over on Art Taylor's First Two Pages Blog. 

The Good Cop is set in Munich, Germany, amid the chaos and revolt that followed World War One. Maximilian Wolf, a veteran of that war, just wants to forget it all and have a normal life.  But in Munich, that is easier said than done. There is hunger, massive unemployment, fascists and communists are fighting in the streets.  And yet, Maximilian finds a job as a newspaper artist, meets and falls in love with Sophie Auerbach, a reporter, and—before all hell breaks loose—life starts  to look good. 

“One Sunday morning Sophie and Maximilian took a train from Munich to Bad Aibling, forty minutes southwest of the city.  She had been there once as a child and remembered it as beautiful.  They walked on tiny farm roads for two hours, passing wayside crosses, country churches, pastures where the hay had been cut and stacked. They sat in the sun on the terrace of Zum Braumeister, a small Gasthaus facing the shimmering snow-covered Alps to their east and drank cold beer with lemonade.”

We do not normally think of beer as an ingredient in mixed drinks, but the Germans do.  They have an extensive list of Biermischgetränke (beer mixed drinks). Beer with lemonade (Bier mit Limonade) or das Radler is a favorite in Germany, particularly in Bavaria, and especially on a hot summer day.  It is tall, cold, light, and refreshing.

The Radler has only two ingredients—cold beer and the cold lemony soft drink of your choice mixed in equal parts.  You may eventually prefer 60/40 one way or the other.  When the drink was first invented, dark beer was used, but not any longer.   When you order a Radler in a Gasthaus, they will put  the lemonade in the glass first, then the soft drink.   That way there will be less foam.  When you make it yourself, start with the beer, then add the soft drink.  The beer is lighter in weight, and so das Radler mixes itself.

Prosit!