The next time someone asks you if you'd like a "shandy," they probably aren't asking about some new, weird sex act. (Probably. I don't know who you run with with.) No, a shandy is a British term for a drink made with a beer, often a blond lager, paired usually with lemonade or lemon-lime soda, often in a 50/50 ratio. You may know them by their German name, radler, although in Portland radler often means a beer made with grapefruit soda. In any case, a shandy can broadly mean a cocktail made with beer.
And Taqueria Nueve is hosting a one-night event celebrating all things shandy, fittingly called Shandytown, and taking place from 5 to 10 pm on Monday, September 25. Presented by Pono Brewing, Shandytown's tagline is "Where Beer and Cocktails Live Together." (A fine place... until one starts practicing drums at 2 in the morning, in which case all hell breaks loose.) The evening features five bartenders, five restaurants, hundreds of oysters, and a long list of shandys.
The setup will be like a mini-food festival, as attendees roam between stations, sampling bites from each chef's offering, each of which will be paired with a unique shandy. Ticketholders will cast a vote for "People's Choice: Commissioner of Shandytown," while three celebrity judges will crown "Judge's Choice: Mayor of Shandytown."
Your ticket gets you five drinks and "food until you are full," and the ticket price goes to support the non-profit Growing Gardens, which teaches gardening skills and builds organic vegetable gardens in homes, schools, and correctional facilities in Oregon. The staff and volunteers support children, adults, and families with garden beds, supplies, seeds, plants, mentoring, and other resources, and serve people who have limited access to safe and nutritious food.
Shandytown's food options will be provided by the chefs who are behind Big's Chicken, Twisted Filipino/Magna, Taqueria Nueve, Oysters by Tournart, and Eb & Bean Frozen Yogurt. Each shandy's beer component will comes from Pono Brewing, and the shandymakers will include bartenders from Ataula (using Pono's Pineapple Express pineapple kolsch), Le Moule (using Peachy Cabron tart farmhouse with peach), Shipwreck (using Three Amigos Mexican lager with blue agave), Raven & Rose (with Kīkīao tart farmhouse with Tao of Tea green tea, passionfruit, and mango), and Han Oak (using Tropical Storm hazy New England style IPA). Give Shandytown a visit by stopping by Taqueria Nueve (727 SE Washington) on Monday, and get your tickets here.