I’m sure most artisan beer brew-masters will not agree with mixing foreign liquids into their prized concoctions – they might call it ‘pub water’, which originated from watering down beer – but I do quite fancy a shandy.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be on a hot day; just when you’re thirsty. When I was a kid I was allowed a sip or two on our family holidays to Mozambique. We would sit at beach restaurants and eat cubes of beef in a Portuguese spicy gravy with cubes of bread, which we used to eat with toothpicks. Everyone would wash it down with large goblets of beer and lemonade.

Yesterday it seemed quite apt to have one or two shandies with our lamb chops and traditional potato salad. (Try this grilled lamb chop recipe.) We made them with a burny ginger beer instead of lemonade and a drip of bitters for a change to our version with ginger ale. Some friends brought a few bottles of Everson’s pear cider; so, after a few experiments, we enjoyed cider shandies with lemonade.

While we’re talking about quenching thirst, I have discovered a beautiful local gin called Inverroche from a distillery in Stilbaai, made from hand-harvested botanical fynbos. The local family make three varieties; the fresh and floral one named Verdant is beautiful with cucumber ribbons and a little cracked black pepper or some rose petals. The amber one is packed with aromatics and boasts a golden amber colour – I like to rub a lime or grapefruit wedge around the rim of a tumbler filled with ice and tonic. The third one, also white, is refreshingly crisp. (Try this gin-laced marmalade Martini.)

If you’ve ever made or been served a flat G&T, you’ll know how disappointing it is. Apparently the trick is to pour the tonic slowly over the tot (or two) of gin, so that you don’t lose too many bubbles, and then fill up with ice. No straws allowed!

Here’s to summer just around the corner. Cheers!

Abigail

Photograph: Cyclone Bill