Pacifico Clara Mexican Lager Beer 355ml (4.5% ABV)

There are beers designed for careful contemplation and there are beers designed for sunshine, salt air and mildly irresponsible quantities of lime. Pacifico very much belongs in the second category.

Originally brewed in the port city of Mazatlán on Mexico’s Pacific coast, the lager has become strongly associated with beach culture, seafood and the sort of afternoons that accidentally become evenings. The style itself is clean, light and crisp with gentle malt sweetness, low bitterness and a dry finish that practically demands another sip before the first one has fully disappeared.

What keeps Pacifico popular beyond the branding is that it remains pleasantly balanced. Some industrial pale lagers can feel thin to the point of abstraction, but Pacifico usually carries just enough grain sweetness and body to stay satisfying. Cold temperature helps enormously, admittedly. This is not a beer that benefits from philosophical analysis at cellar temperature.

The connection to coastal food makes perfect sense too. Fried fish, grilled prawns, tacos, sharp citrus and chilli all work brilliantly alongside that soft carbonation and refreshing finish. Beer doesn’t always need to challenge you intellectually. Sometimes it just needs to stop you overheating.

Mexican lager as a category has quietly gained huge appreciation over recent years, partly because brewers and drinkers alike rediscovered how difficult clean, simple beer actually is to make well. Pacifico sits comfortably among the better examples. Easygoing, refreshing and refreshingly free from trying too hard.