This strange trick will make your on-course beer taste even better

Late last week I saw an article coming across my feed from Lifehacker that could my eye. It had a picture of a beer with a pickle in it. Sure, I’ll take the bait. The article, written by Claire Lower, features some pretty unconventional but handy advice that relates to golfers: To put a pickle in your glass of beer. It works best with lighter beers, she says, and the reasoning is simple:

The pickle gives the beer flavor—something it desperately needs—and the salt tastes particularly welcome on a hot, sweaty day (it’s the electrolytes). The gentle sourness imparted by the pickle is balanced by whatever bitterness is present in your tallboy, and the whole thing is quite refreshing. Also, you get to eat the beer-soaked pickle when you finish your beverage. It’s good!

On the course during a stiflingly hot round over the weekend, I couldn’t wait to give it a try myself. I cracked open a cold budget beer at the halfway house, asked for a pickle spear (which you’ll almost certainly receive free of charge, along with a slightly strange look that’s also free-of-charge), combined the two, waited a few seconds and took my first swig.

The first taste was definitely subtle. I almost didn’t notice it at first until the pickle taste came up on the back end. After about a minute of letting it soak in, though, it came alive. The pickle added a genuinely nice salty, tangy element that paired nicely with the crisp, light beer. I was worried it would become overly pickle-y, but it never did. The longer the pickle soaked, the more pronounced the flavor became, but it never became overwhelming. You don’t need to love pickles in order to enjoy it; as long as you don’t hate it, give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.