Thursday, May 05, 2005
Cinco de Mayo and mex beer
Today is Cinco de Mayo, a day when Americans celebrate the victory of the Mexican army over the French a hundred or something years ago. I say Americans celebrate it because it isn't really that big a deal in Mexico. It'd be as if Canada celebrated Bunker Hill day by drinking bud light and dressing up like Americans. Oh wait, that's everyday.
I won't be celebrating this noble mexican holiday but I will use the occasion to pick on crappy mexican beers. Corona, El Sol and their ilk are nasty ass cheapo beers that stupid americans pay way too much for. They are the equivalent of Bud or even Miller (gasp!) in that they are made efficiently yet cheaply for maximum profit. The goal is a consistent product, not flavor. With a marketing campaign like theirs who needs it?
The cheap beer posing as overpriced novelty is nothing new to the industry and will remain a key business model in the industry. My beef is that there are some pretty good mexicans beers out there that don't get a fair shake as a result. You think mexican you think corona and stop thinking after that. Dos Equis and Modelo both produce fine beers in a classic german tradition. A sizable number of German immigrants opened a number of breweries in mexico in the second half of the 19th century. They brought their brewing traditions with them and imported hops, grain and yeast strains to make beer authentic to their native styles. They remain to this day to be some of the finest examples of their style anywhere in the world.
That's it. Just a quick note on mexican beer. um, feliz cinco de mayo?
I won't be celebrating this noble mexican holiday but I will use the occasion to pick on crappy mexican beers. Corona, El Sol and their ilk are nasty ass cheapo beers that stupid americans pay way too much for. They are the equivalent of Bud or even Miller (gasp!) in that they are made efficiently yet cheaply for maximum profit. The goal is a consistent product, not flavor. With a marketing campaign like theirs who needs it?
The cheap beer posing as overpriced novelty is nothing new to the industry and will remain a key business model in the industry. My beef is that there are some pretty good mexicans beers out there that don't get a fair shake as a result. You think mexican you think corona and stop thinking after that. Dos Equis and Modelo both produce fine beers in a classic german tradition. A sizable number of German immigrants opened a number of breweries in mexico in the second half of the 19th century. They brought their brewing traditions with them and imported hops, grain and yeast strains to make beer authentic to their native styles. They remain to this day to be some of the finest examples of their style anywhere in the world.
That's it. Just a quick note on mexican beer. um, feliz cinco de mayo?
# posted by Yossie @ 2:45 PM 
