Beer in Mexico
[2] Furthermore, the arrival of German immigrants during the ephemeral Second Mexican Empire of elected Maximilian I of Mexico, born an Austrian archduke, in the 19th century provided the impetus for the opening of many breweries in various parts of the country.
A similar beverage, called pozol, is made in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Tabasco with corn and cocoa beans.
[1][2][5]Beer brewed with grain such as barley was produced in small quantities by Hernán Cortés’ soldiers, but it was limited due to the lack of supplies.
[1][2] Herrera's brewery struggled during its first years, as alcohol consumption was highly regulated by authorities, and the new brew had to compete with native beverages.
Englishmen Gillons and Mairet, Miguel Ramos Arizpe and Justino Tuallion all claimed exclusive rights to produce beer in Mexico.
[6] In 1845, a barley beer flavored with piloncillo was introduced with the names of Pila Seca and La Candelaria by Swiss Bernhard Boldgard and Bavarian Federico Herzog.
[6] The establishment of a railroad system in Mexico at the end of the 19th century allowed the import of machinery and malt from the United States, but it also forced Mexican breweries to compete against U.S. beer, which began to be distributed in the country.
Prohibition in the United States during the 1920s helped the Mexican beer industry, with Americans crossing the border to drink.
[3] To promote their product further, European immigrant beer brewers in the first part of the 20th century campaigned against native drinks such as pulque.
They claimed such drinks were produced by unsanitary methods (including the use of feces as a fermenting agent) and promoted beer as "rigorously hygienic and modern".
[7][8] The strategy proved successful, with pulque now generally looked-down-upon and imbibed by relatively few people, with Mexican-brewed beer ubiquitous and extremely popular.
[6] Most of the brands known today were creations made by the smaller breweries of the past that were absorbed into the stock of these two giants, who distribute these products in both Mexico and abroad.
[3] These producers have seventeen plants located in eleven states with a capacity of 46 million hectoliters annually and support 92 centers of barley production in Mexico.
[1] Mexico displaced the Netherlands in 2003 as the largest worldwide beer exporter, selling 1.39 million tonnes, with sales, primarily to the U.S., continuing to increase.
The two main Mexican producers reported increases in export volume of 42% and 20.5% in 2006, compared to less than five percent for Anheuser-Busch and Molson Coors in the same year.
[9] The best-known and best-selling Mexican beer in the United States by far is Corona, produced by Grupo Modelo and distributed by Anheuser Busch.
FEMSA entered the US market later, but has paired with Dutch enterprise Heineken USA to promote and distribute its brands, especially Dos Equis and Tecate.
Modelo continued buying smaller local breweries in various parts of the country, absorbing most of the brands produced and making many of them available nationwide.
Starting in the 1980s, the enterprise began new businesses, such as INAMEX, which produces malt, which led to the name change to Grupo Modelo.
Cervecería Cuauhtémoc was founded in 1890 by Issac Garza, José Muguerza, Joseph M. Schnaider and Francisco Sada, selling their first beer, Carta Blanca.
[15] FEMSA's brands today include Tecate, Sol, Dos Equis, Carta Blanca, Superior, Indio, and Bohemia.
[23] Pacífico, a Mexican pilsner beer originally brewed in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, is named after the Pacific Ocean.
The beer is still brewed only in Guadalajara and is a regional brand, mostly sold in Jalisco state and other areas in western Mexico.
Recently, interest in this beer has reappeared, and it received a gold medal at the Monde Selection in Brussels, Belgium.
[29] León, Carta Clara and Montejo brands were originally brewed in Mérida, Yucatán by the Cervecería Yucateca, which was bought by Modelo in 1979.
[32] More recently, group of Mexican businessmen introduced a beer called "10 Maradó," which is named in honor of Diego Maradona.
Maradona's face does not appear on the label, only the word Maradó and the number 10, with a background of blue and white stripes.
This same group created the company Cervecería Revolución with beers dedicated to Che Guevara, Maquiavelo and Emiliano Zapata.
[33] Mexican beer is distinctive for its lager-like properties, being generally light-bodied with a mild taste and is meant to be consumed cold.
The slang term for these is caguamas (sea turtles) or in some parts, like Mazatlán, ballenas (whales), but usually referring to the Pacifico brand.
