Mexican beer
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Beer in Mexico has a long history. Fermented beverages long predates the arrival of European conquistadors in America. Beer in the European style became mass produced in the 19th century, and continues to be popular today.
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[edit] Early history
As in most early societies, such native Mesoamerican people as the Maya and Aztec were brewing grain-based alcoholic beverages (primarily from maize corn) long before the Spanish arrived in Mexico. Another ancient popular beverage is pulque, an indigenous fermented drink made from aguamiel (lit. honey water), the sap of the agave plant, and the precursor of distilled tequila.
The influx of German immigrants and the influence of a brief Habsburg rule over the country in the middle of the 19th century that helped cement the art of brewing as an all-Mexican endeavor. Mexico spent four years under Austro-German emperor Maximilian, who apparently never traveled without his brewmasters. As a result, two of the more popular brands of Mexican beer – Negra Modelo and Dos Equis Ámbar – come from the darker, more malty subset of German lagers known as Vienna style. While not as weighty as most British ales, the Mexican Viennas are fuller bodied with more malt sweetness and character than the pale pilsners.
[edit] Development
Much of early development in the brewing industry was done by immigrants of Germanic backgrounds. The first lager beer brewery in Mexico was La Pila Seca, founded in 1845 by Swiss immigrant Bernhard Bolgard. This was followed by the opening of the Cervecería Toluca y México, by another Swiss, Agustín Marendaz in 1865, and Cerveceria Cruz Blanca, founded in Mexico City in 1869 by Alsatian immigrant Emil Dercher. [1] Cruz Blanca survived well into the 20th century.
While at first, most modern brewers were small operations, by 1890, the first substantial, industrial brewing facility in the country was built in Monterrey (Cervecería Cuauhtémoc). Four years later another large brewery opened in Orizaba (Cervecería Moctezuma). The industrialization of the Mexican beer business was on.
Prohibition in the United States in the 1920s significantly boosted the Mexican brewing industry as Americans flocked to border cities to purchase and consume alcohol. Several new breweries opened on the Mexican side of the border, including both the Mexicali Brewery and the Aztec Brewing Company in Mexicali, capital of Baja California.
[edit] Modern day
Today, most Mexican beers are produced by the two beer giants, FEMSA and Grupo Modelo. FEMSA is a general beverage corporation whose roots date to back to 1890 and the first large Mexican brewery, Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma in Monterrey. With their brands – Tecate, Sol, Dos Equis, Carta Blanca, Superior, Indio, Bohemia and Noche Buena – FEMSA is a major international brewer. Grupo Modelo has fewer brands but a larger part of the Mexican beer export market with Corona, Corona Light, Negra Modelo, Modelo Especial, Modelo Light, and Pacífico, their six export brands. They also brew brands intended solely for the domestic market: Victoria (a recent advertising campaign for this brand was centered around the fact that it is unavailable abroad); Estrella (a local beer found only in the west of the country; and León and Montejo originally local to Yucatán but nowadays available nationwide). Grupo Modelo is 49 per cent owned by Anheuser-Busch but control of the company remains with Modelo's Mexican shareholders.
[edit] Mexican micro brew beers
Recently (from 2000 to today), there have been a small surge of Mexican micro brews. The two main ones leading this surge are Tijuana Beer, brewed in Tijuana, Baja California and Cucapá Beer, brewed in Mexicali, Baja California.
[edit] Top sellers
Corona is the flagship beer of Grupo Modelo. It is a very light lager (basically an American-style pale lager), and the number one imported beer in the world. Corona is the best-selling non-domestic beer in both the U.S. and UK. Many say the brand's marketing and easy drinkability account for its success, as many beer aficionados agree that other Mexican lagers such as Dos Equis, Bohemia, Victoria, Tijuana Guera, Tijuana Morena and Negra Modelo are far superior.
[edit] Lime and salt
A twist of lime and a dash of salt on the neck of the bottle are often served with Mexican beers especially the light lagers such as Corona. A traditional drink does exist known as the michelada, which is a drink composed of mostly light beer with a lot of lime juice (the equivalent of several chunks of lime), and hot sauce.
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