DAB Original (Dortmunder Actien Brauerei) ★★

Type: lager From: Germany ABV: 5.0% Price: $2.00/500 mL can

I remember my first experience with DAB. A friend and I bought a mini-keg of it just because it was a novelty. After our first taste, just as I was thinking that it was a pretty decent light lager, my friend was spitting his in the sink.

Beer snobs will tell you that DAB has a bland flavor, but they’re wrong (or their taste in beer has been rarified to a point beyond usefulness). My friend who hated it said “it tastes like vegetables someone else has already eaten.”

While I disagree that DAB tastes like vomit, I can see his point. It does have a distinctly vegetable taste, and enough acid that it could have reminded him of throwing up. That said, my friend’s palate probably wasn’t rarified enough at the time, as he was happy with Molson Export and Labatt’s Blue.

For the majority of us in between, DAB is definitely worth a try. It’s very light and crisp, despite its distinctive taste. It’s not really an acquired taste — you’ll either like it or not like it, and it will grow neither better nor worse after repeated drinkings.

An interesting side note: A friend in Germany tells me that DAB’s low price and ubiquitous availability in that country, it is a favorite of, and often associated with, the punk rock scene (which I guess they still have there).

Perfect for: Entertaining a German punk rock fan, or just trying something different.