Desperados

Here is the joke at the heart of Desperados: Europe's favourite "Mexican" party beer — a lager flavoured with tequila, wrapped in cactus-and-desert styling — comes from Alsace, in eastern France, an ocean away from the nearest agave field.

It was invented in 1995 at the Fischer brewery in Schiltigheim, the historic brewing suburb of Strasbourg, as a bet that young Europeans wanted a beer that partied like a spirit: sweeter, citrusy, drunk from the bottle in clubs rather than pulled in pubs. Heineken took over the brand along with its French brewer and rolled it out across the continent.

The bet paid off. Desperados is now a fixture of French supermarkets, UK festivals and club fridges from Warsaw to Lisbon, and Brand Finance ranks it the 43rd most valuable beer brand in the world — a top-50 slot held by a beer most of its fans couldn't place on a map. That, of course, is half the fun.

By design, this doesn't taste like other lagers: lemon-lime candy sweetness up front, a distinct tequila-ish agave note behind it, and only a faint beery grain underneath. Bright gold, aggressively fizzy, and sweeter than most beers dare to be — closer to a party long drink than a pilsner, and best absolutely ice-cold from the bottle.