Shandy is beer mixed with a soft drink, such as carbonated lemonade, ginger beer, ginger ale, apple juice, or orange juice. The proportions of the two ingredients are adjusted to taste, usually half-and-half. Non-alcoholic shandies are known as "rock shandies". Shandies are more popular in western Europe than other parts of the world.
In some jurisdictions, the low alcohol content of shandies makes them exempt from laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages.
Biermischgetränke ("beer-based mixed drinks") are popular in Germany. Sometimes, non-alcoholic beer is used, so the drink has no significant alcohol content. A common ingredient of these drinks is German-style carbonated lemonade. Since a 1993 change in German tax law, Biermischgetränke are also sold premixed in bottles.
In Berlin and eastern Germany, the Potsdamer, a 50%/50% mixture of light-coloured beer and flavoured soda, is a popular drink. The soda used in a Potsdamer is flavoured with a shot of raspberry syrup, giving it a red colour.
The Whizz Peach, made by the private Wilhelm Rummel Brewery in Darmstadt, is made with 50% Kristallweizen (filtered wheat beer) and 50% peach-flavored lemonade.
The Berliner Weisse mit Schuss is made from a light Weißbier (white beer) mixed with a Schuss (shot) of sweet syrup instead of soda. It comes in three standard varieties: the Grün ("green") with Waldmeistersirup, a woodruff-flavoured syrup; the Gelb (yellow) with a shot of Zitronensirup (lemon syrup); and the Rot (red), with a shot of Himbeersirup (raspberry syrup).