Jever

I recently picked up a six-pack of beer from my friendly neighborhood Wino Mart with which I intended to watch the third and final presidential debate. What I purchased was Jever, a pilsner from the Friesland region of Germany. The packaging is very nondescript with a simple gold and green label on a green glass bottle. I know fully the dangers of clear and green glass bottles for beer, but I am not one to learn a lesson quickly. For the price tag of ten dollars, I was hoping for something grand.

Flash forward to the night of the debate, I popped the top off a bottle of Jever and poured it into a glass. The brew was light yellow with a persistent and liberal white head, the aroma was faint, and undeniably skunked, but I could make out a slight bready tang in the nose, not much else.

Upon tasting I was hit with a sharp sourdough bite that faded quickly to a metallic bitter aftertaste that lingers long after the beer has been swallowed. I would compare the bitterness to that of very very aged cheese, but I’d be doing the cheese a disservice. This is more metallic, like raw iron and grapefruit pith with none of the citric flavor. The bottle was difficult to finish, where it had too much bite to drink fast, but an unrelenting sour bitterness that didn’t encourage another sip. At least, with the debate well underway, this pilsner wouldn’t be the hardest thing of the night to swallow.