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I’m thrilled that we decided that our first review should be a local brew because I love Nashville! I’m actually a native, born and raised in the Nashville area, which you don’t find very often anymore. I think that’s why I like Yazoo Brewing Company’s beer. It’s a Nashville institution, founded in 2003. Check out their history here. So for us, it makes sense that our first beer review should be a local beer and Yazoo’s Dos Perros is one of their early hits.
Yazoo’s description of Dos Perros
“Many Mexican beer styles today are descendants of old Austrian styles, from when Austria ruled Mexico in the late 19th century. Our Dos Perros is made with German Munich malt, English Pale malt, and Chocolate malt, and hopped with Perle and Saaz hops. To lighten the body, as many Mexican brewers do, we add a small portion of flaked maize. The result is a wonderfully bready malt aroma, balanced with some maize sweetness and a noble hop finish.”
Tasting notes 
- Aroma: Toasty malts with a hint of fruitiness.
- Appearance: Rich amber, clear, almost like cola. The head goes away quickly, appears to be lightly carbonated. The color is 13 SRM (Standard Reference Method).
- Flavor: Toasty malts, hints of chocolate and caramel. You taste the same faint fruitiness picked up in the aroma. Just a hint of spice from the hops in the aftertaste. It reminds us a bit of a high quality cola, but without the high carbonation of a soda.
- Mouthfeel: Light, with low carbonation. Slightly sweet and smooth.
- Overall: A unique beer, not a style a lot of brewers are making. Similar to a Vienna lager, except it’s an ale. Easily drinkable and great with spicy food. At 3.5% ABV (alcohol by volume) it’s a session beer. For craft beer newbies, a “session beer” just means you can have a couple at dinner without getting hammered. It comes in at 21 IBUs (International Bitterness Units) so it’s not a hoppy (bitter) beer, and the malt comes through.
I think Dos Perros is one of the first craft beers I tried. Years ago, we went to the Yazoo taproom in Nashville with friends and I tried a sampler of all of their beers. Being a novice craft beer drinker, I assumed that I would only like the lighter colored beers. I was pleasantly surprised to find out I really liked the Dos Perros. It looks like a dark beer but it is easy to drink and refreshingly light. It has a little bit of sweetness but it’s not too sweet. And since it’s a malty Mexican style beer, it’s obviously good with Mexican food (or anything spicy), which is a big plus in my book!
Here’s what Kendall has to say:
To me Dos Perros is Nashville’s beer. Others make pale ales, hefes, porters and stouts, but Dos Perros is uniquely Yazoo, uniquely Nashville. I started noticing it at a lot of bars and restaurants around 2004-2005. It was one of the first Yazoo beers that got on taps in many places around town. It’s everywhere in Nashville and if you look around, you’ll see a lot people enjoying it. Even Nashvillians who aren’t craft beer followers know Dos Perros. For now, it’s limited to the South. You can find Yazoo in Tennessee, Alabama & Mississippi, so try a Dos Perros the next time you’re in the region. You’ll be glad you did. And if you’re someone who thinks you don’t like beer, please do yourself a favor and give this one a try.
(Tasting was done at home, poured from a bottle into a Spiegelau tulip glass. The Dos Perros was purchased in a Nashville custom six-pack from the beer store at Midtown Wine & Spirits.)