The Iconic Holiday Radler

Last weekend my longest-serving friend (god bless her) surprised me with a short holiday. I’d not been away on a holiday—a proper holiday, where no work was done underneath hot sunshine—in years, and it didn’t take long for me to remember just how good it feels to relax.

I thought what I missed about holidays was swimming in the sea, and sure, that was gorgeous. The cool, clear Atlantic washing my stress away. But what I really missed was gossiping on the beach, or by the pool, or on the apartment balcony, a can of Tropical Limón in my hand. €1 a can, ice cold from the Superdino fridge, the flavour of malty local lager mingling with zingy, cloudy lemonade. Unlike a Bitter shandy, which is the ultimate northern post-hill walk shandy, this shandy is the only drink that perfectly matches the specific mood elevation of a Spanish holiday, the sunshine, the blue of the ocean.

I’m not expecting the weather in England to improve any time soon, but when that annual heatwave appears, here’s how to replicate that sensation. Get a big glass and pour in 200ml of lager, I’d say Northern Helles, or if you’re going authentic, Estrella Galicia should do it. Flatten the lager a bit with a straw, then pour 200ml of lemon Fanta on top. Sit outside and raise your face to the sun. Enjoy with ready salted crisps and the scent of sun cream in the air.

Other Stuff

• How the sounds of nature are changing as species adapt, move and disappear from British woodlands

• Incredible work by Rachel Hendry on Babycham and the Babycham Girl marketing behemoth of the mid 21st century for Pellicle

• Brewdog’s Lost Forest is largely dead.

• Ivan McClellan’s photography highlights black cowboy culture and every photograph is stunning

• There is something so wonderfully British about a tractor parking bay in a pub car park making national news

• Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

• Time travel with Eoghan Walsh

• A dissection of Tony Soprano as a sex symbol

• Nelly Furtado’s new dark EDM tune is a sexy summer banger

My(ish) Stuff

• The incredible illustrations for my piece on Gaucho wine culture in Argentina “Echoes Of The Gaucho” by Driss Chaoui have been chosen as a winner of American Illustration 43. I’m just so proud to have been part of the process.