LONDON – Heineken took the lemons of a very soft European economy and turned it into, well, lemon-beer. The world’s third biggest brewing company recently debuted a line of radler beverages that blend lager with lemon soda in an effort to entice female consumers to its brands, Bloomberg News reports.

Twenty-three European markets will get a taste of the drink that boasts less alcohol than beer with a sweeter taste. Other brewers are also attempting variations on their beer offerings to stem the flood of exiting beer drinkers. Anheuser-Busch InBev recently created a lime-flavored Bud Light, while Heineken mixed tequila with beer for Desperados.

“Beer’s losing out to other beverages,” said Ian Shackleton, who analyzes the beer market for Nomura. “You could argue that's because brewers haven't been as innovative. The question is: how do you innovate in lager? It's all a bit same-y.”

The radler drinks will be the foundation of Heineken’s approach to garner 6% of annual sales via new products. In 2012, Heineken nabbed 5.3% of its revenue from beverage launches.

For the radler, Heineken reached back nearly a 100 years to a German invention of 1922 that mixed beer with soft drinks. In Paris, a similar combination is called a panache, while in England, pub-goers down a shandy.

“Heineken's formalized what was being mixed by a barman,” such as shandies, said Trevor Stirling, a Sanford C. Bernstein analyst. “Consumers love it, so I don't know why someone didn't give it to them beforehand.”