Snakebite (drink)
shandy made with equal parts of lager or stout and cider
A snakebite is an alcoholic drink made with equal parts lager and cider. If a dash of blackcurrant cordial is added, it is known as a "Snakebite and Black", or rarely, a "Diesel". It was first popularised in the UK in the 1980s.
Availability in the UK
A snakebite is typically served in a pint glass. Serving a snakebite from separate cider and lager taps or bottles is legal in the UK, despite sources that suggest otherwise, however many pubs have their own policies against serving them as the rules are still seen as unclear. In 2001, former US President Bill Clinton was refused a snakebite when he ordered one at the Old Bell Tavern in Harrogate, North Yorkshire as a consequence of this misconception.
This misconception stems from the Weights and Measures Acts 1985 dictating alcoholic drinks to be served in exact measurements (thirds, halves, two-thirds of a pint and multiples of half a pint) for lager and cider, making it incredibly hard for bar staff to accurately pour these measurements in a standard pint glass. An easier workaround is to serve the customer half a pint of lager and half a pint of cider then hand them an empty pint glass to complete the drink themselves.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Snakebite (drink)” is shandy made with equal parts of lager or stout and cider. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Snakebite, drink and shandy, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13424415. The first chronological checks are 2001 and 1985.
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This entry incorporates text from “Snakebite (drink)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.