Beverage of the Week: Firestone Walker's 805 Cerveza is a perfect Cinco de Mayo beer

805 Cerveza isn't Mexican made, but it's a pretty dang good Mexican lager.

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

I do not know you, dear reader, but I know this much about you; you deserve to drink something better than Corona on Cinco de Mayo.

The most popular Mexican beer in America is a bland bottle of nothing. It requires fresh citrus just to register on your taste buds. It’s so inoffensive you can pour a tiny bottle of it into a margarita and not affect the core taste.

Corona is, in layman’s terms, butt.

But there are several Mexican lagers that are not. Today we’re gonna try a new one.

Firestone Walker, out of California, has an entrenched place in the craft beer landscape thanks to its hop-heavy (and incredibly drinkable) pale ales. That made its newest venture, 805 Cerveza, a proper fit not only for a review but one that happens to fall on Cinco de Mayo. The Mexican lager is spun off from the brewer’s 805 imprint, a blonde ale crafted in honor of the company’s west coast roots (and area code). It’s a light lager with lime involved, clocking in at 4.5 percent ABV and 110 calories.

Of course, there are concerns. Firestone Walker is an American brewery. While they can recreate that cerveza style, drinking their beer isn’t supporting a Mexican company on the day Americans choose to celebrate our neighbor to the south. If you’re looking for a great, authentic brew from Mexico there are several proper options. My tastes are pretty basic since Mexican lagers aren’t my favorite and I live in Wisconsin, but I’m always down for a Pacifica or an Estrella Jalisco. There are tons of smaller breweries who probably make incredible stuff as well.

Today, we’re drinking an established American brewery’s take on a Mexican classic. Let’s see how it goes.