Dos Equis XX Special : Appearance
Pure gold hue with absolutely crystal-clear body. Some carbonation noticeable. Not much head and little to no retention or lacing.
Dos Equis XX Special : Smell
For a light lager in a green bottle it’s surprisingly skunk-free. That’s not to say it’s very aromatic, though. Just a generic “beer smell” with a faint malty sweetness in the background. Otherwise, odorless.
Dos Equis XX Special : Taste
When it comes to macro lagers, I’ve reached a point where simply not tasting foul earns a lot of points on my rating scale. Honestly, I was expecting Dos Equis XX to be the Heineken of Mexico, but it’s more like a Schlitz. Very clean, neutral-tasting palate throughout the entire first half. For a moment there’s a quick hop nibble, followed by more clean lager taste. What’s interesting is that for a second or two it leaves a slightly sweet, malty aftertaste of caramel or sugar water. Why couldn’t the entire palate have the same flavor?
As the beer warms it begins to rear its ugly generic macro lager head. I begin to taste a bit of wet cardboard throughout the palate. The sweetness on the finish is replaced by a subtle corn water flavor, which, while sweet, leaves a dry, pasty aftertaste similar to high fructose corn syrup. It’s easily tolerable, and I’ve had other macro lagers that were much worse – but simply not being awful doesn’t make the beer good. It’s average at the absolute best.
Dos Equis XX Special : Mouthfeel
Cold, wet, slightly fizzy, thin.
Dos Equis XX Special : Drinkability
Straight from the fridge, Dos Equis XX is actually quite refreshing. The neutral palate and thin mouthfeel make for a very smooth, highly chuggable brew. This is, until it warms even slightly, in which case the carbonated corn water becomes a little distracting. I suppose if you paired this with Mexican food you wouldn’t notice it. The body is dead-on at 5% ABV.
Overall, Dos Equis XX is a very generic lager in many ways. You could do worse for a Mexican macro lager.
