A Constant Visual Feast

I recently (read: yesterday) had the good luck of sampling a Japas Cervejaria beer. I have been on the hunt for their brews for, oh, let’s say “a few years,” so this means I got to check off a box on my “beer to-do” list. Matsurika, their Bohemian (read: Czech) Pilsner, is, in a word, revelatory. Making a style with as concrete a definition as Pilsner standout isn’t easy; additional adjuncts or tweaks to the brewing process, however small, can very easily take the finished product out of the “Pilsner” range and into the “something else” range. Might still be good, but it won’t be Pilsner. (Folks have very strong feelings about this for good, historical reasons.)

Matsurika stays true to the style with the very subtle addition of jasmine leaves, a bonus ingredient wisely chosen; they enhance Pilsner’s dominant flavors and notes, and impart a secondary element of umami. It’s gently earthy. The leaves aren’t pushy; if you savor the beer (as you should; it came all the way from Brazil), you’ll experience their effects as a kind of hushed echo resonating through the main flavor profile.

I wish I’d gotten to try this beer before speaking with Maira Kimura, one of Japas Cervejaria’s co-founders, but c’est la vie. (Or whatever the Portuguese or Japanese equivalent of that phrase would be. This is why I beef with the French.) You can read my full interview with Kimura at JoySauce.