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Super Bowl Sunday is one day in the year I allow myself to guzzle down cheap, watered-down mass-marketed bottled American lagers (piss waters as I normally refer to them as); my friends come over and between the Coors, Buds and Millers, we chug down quite a few of these flavorless brews – hey, they pay for most of the coverage of the game, going by the ads, so might as well give them their due one day of the year, right?
This year, though, my German brother-in-law Andreas, who I consider to be the definitive authority on beer, brought by a cool Polish beer to mix things up a bit. Zywiec, with a crisp white-background and a Polish couple dancing in ethnic costumes on its label, stood out immediately amongst the other generic beer bottles – and its taste didn’t let it down either.
One of my main complaints with the afore-mentioned piss-waters is that they try to compensate for the lack of flavor by over-hopping; I am not a fan of bitterness. Yet, Zywiec showed me how hops were probably intended to really work in lagers and pilsners – to complement the flavor, not to make up for the absence of it. The sharpness of the hops cut through the yeasty flavor of the beer (not much malt here, to my disappointment), giving the beer a nice, light, refreshing mouthfeel (which Coors can only dream about). The 5.6% alcohol kept the brew very chuggable, and made it the perfect complement to the delivery pizza (like I said, this was one night I indulged in the frat boy lifestyle) – I might have found my new football brew!
THE REVIEW: ZYWIEC POLISH BEER
BOTTLE: Generic bottle, but with a cool white label with a dancing couple in Polish (in guessing) costumes and a crown to indicate its rich tradition, I suppose. Red, white, blue and gold color scheme gives a hint of the rich yet light flavor awaiting us.
SMELL: Not much aroma here beyond some slight hoppiness ala pilsners.
HEAD: Cannot say; I chugged it right from the bottle! 
TASTE: Definitive flavor which was spiked with the bitterness from the hops. Very light mouthfeel, a bit of carbonation, and very easy to chug down.
FOOD PAIRINGS: Greasy delivery pizza went wonderfully with this beer, and I would imagine any party fare like sandwiches or chips go well with this.