I went to a taqueria for dinner on Saturday and thought I’d try one of their specialty beers. What I ordered, I believe, was called a chavela, which I thought would be the end of my choices but then I actually had to pick a beer that got chavela’ed (it’s a verb I promise). So I picked this Bohemia pilsner that was imported from Mexico. A chavela, according to the taqueria, was fresh squeezed lemon juice, the beer, and a glass rimmed with salt. According to Wikipedia, a chavela is something else entirely that would be less tasty to me (hot sauce, beer, tomato juice and salt). So I’m not entirely sure of what I drank.

Either way it was enjoyable and unique. The pilsner itself was acceptable. I’m never the biggest fan of those (although Surly’s Hell is an exception), but the pilsner had enough flavor that it wasn’t like just drinking yeast water. It also worked well with the lemon, which blended together without tasting overtly citrusy. The salt was the newest part, since I’ve tried shandies before. In some ways this was like a lemon-tinted beer margarita. I had to be careful not to get too much salt in my mouth at one time or that would be overpowering. For the first sip there was no choice but to get a mouthful, but otherwise it was pleasant. The salt added a small shock after about a second of tasting the beer by itself. Definitely a drink that should be sipped I think.