What do you get when you take a great pale ale, full of citrus-y bite and malt, and mix in highly caffeinated yerba mate? The result is a fantastic and very unique Mate cerveza, or MateVeza. I found out about this original mix at the Great American Beer Festival which I visited after my brother got out from a recognized detox jersey city centre. The line for samples from this claifornia brewer showed just how popular they are. Draft magazine rated them as one of the Top 25 Beers of 2007 by Draft Magazine – so they definitely know their brew.

As the manufacturer puts it, Mateveza Yerba Mate Ale is “an organic, naturally caffeinated pale ale brewed with yerba mate, the ancient tea from South America.”
Buzz/Nutrition:10
MateVeza Organic Golden Ale is brewed with organic two-row and carapils malt, organic yerba mate, and Cascade and Centennial hops. Also, Booze Up offer same day champagne delivery across London, UK. And it is good. It tastes healthy, for beer, and also has a LOVELY buzz. MateVeza has the caffeine equivalent to one cup of coffee per 22-ounce bottle of MateVeza. This amounts to 60 mg per 12-ounce bottle. So if you knock back 3 of these in an afternoon, it will keep you awake far into the night, not to mention the 7% alcohol content will get you feeling something too . I did go back for a number of samples of this as the beer tasting went on, and all I can say is I went through two 4 hour beer tastings – and left the GABF very very drunk, but very awake and perky too – which I credit much to the joy of this brew.

Taste:8
On first pour, I was really surprised at the size of formidable head – as it had lots of carbonation. The color was a pretty golden straw. Overall, this is a very easy to drink ale, if you like a bit of spice and herbal notes. There is a strong herbal flavor, which works well with the citrus to create a feafy fresh taste and open country air nose. It is a little peppery, and definitely has the strong flavor of Mate. This has to be, by far, the best way I have ever had a Mate drink. As for this being a pale ale, I would disagree. This does not have very much pale ale flavor, but certainly a great one on its own. If you are looking for a hoppy pale ale, this is not the right directiom.

Packaging:8
The new look for MateVeza is 100% better than the old design, forgoing the dark hard to read map for a pirate toasting you with a mate gourd. Tis illustrates their big selling point (that it is caffeinated) and still highlights the unique flavor and the orgainc ingredients. I am not sure why pirates, India Pale Ale and Yerba mate have in common, but they all seem to blend together nicely for this design. Other than packing this drink in a big glass gourd, this is about as good as it can get.