| Industry | Beverage |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1890 |
| Headquarters | Monterrey, Mexico |
| Products | Beers |
| Owner(s) | Heineken International |
Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma Brewery (Spanish: Cervecería Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma) is a major brewery based in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, founded in 1890. Currently it is a subsidiary of Heineken International.
The company operates brewing plants in Monterrey, Tecate, Navojoa, Guadalajara, Toluca, Orizaba and, beginning in 2012, Chihuahua, producing the Dos Equis, Sol, Bohemia, Superior, Carta Blanca, Noche Buena, Indio, Casta and Tecate brands among others. It has an annual production of 3.09 GL (gigalitres).
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The Cuauhtémoc brewery was founded in Monterrey in 1890 by José Calderón, Isaac Garza José A. Muguerza, Francisco G. Sada, Joseph M. Schnaider, and Wilhelm Hasse, with capital of 150,000 pesos, starting with the Carta Blanca brand. Cuauhtémoc brewery produced its first beer barrel in 1893 and won first prize in the Chicago and Paris world fairs.
In 1909 Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc started to expand vertically. To provide glass bottles, in 1909, was founded Vidrios y Cristales de Monterrey S.A., later Vidriera Monterrey, S.A. later Grupo Vitro. In order to produce boxes, bottle caps, and packaging materials, in 1900 Fabricas de Carton Monterrey. In 1929, Malta, S.A. was established to produce malt for the brewery. The cardboard box department would eventually become Titán Company.
During the Mexican Revolution which began in 1910, its original founders supported Victoriano Huerta. As a consequence, his rival Venustiano Carranza seized the brewery, so the founders' families fled to Texas. They re-acquired the brewery through the intervention of US and Russian diplomats.
The Sociedad Cuauhtemoc was founded in 1918 to provide medical and educative services to the workers' families; the final objective was to provide a welfare system to avoid strikes. The working day was reduced from twelve to nine hours in 1907.
By 1936 the holdings of the Garza and Sada families and their associates were divided into two groups: the Cuauhtemoc (brewery) group and the Vidriera (glass) group. In that year the family's holdings were reorganized, creating Valores Industriales S.A. (VISA) as a holding company controlling the majority of shares of the firms formerly held by Cuauhtemoc, especially Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc and Famosa.
During the 20th century, Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma was headed by the two Garza Sada brothers Eugenio Garza Sada (assassinated in 1973 in a kidnapping attempt by Mexican left-wing guerrillas) and Roberto Garza Sada. In 1943, company executive Eugenio Garza Sada with his brother and other prominent people founded the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), and in 1973, the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame was opened at the site of the company headquarters.
After Eugenio Garza Sada's assassination, VISA, the Cerveceria Cuauthtemoc Moctezuma's holding, was split into two units: Visa and Grupo Industrial Alfa. Alfa received Hylsa and cash, while Visa retained the brewery business and its stake in the Banco de Londres and its affiliated institutions, and Eugenio Garza Lagüera, a son of Eugenio Garza Sada, was named CEO of Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, and Bernardo Garza Sada a son of Roberto Garza Sada was named CEO of Alfa.
When oil prices fell in 1981, Mexico's economic boom, financed with borrowed money, abruptly halted. Visa found itself more than $1 billion in debt the following year, and the federal government nationalized Banca Serfin—the nation's third-largest bank—in which Visa held a 77 percent stake. The nondeposit banks and associated financial companies in Grupo Financiero Serfin, not nationalized, were reorganized into a new financial-services group called Valores de Monterrey (Vamsa). Vamsa's life-insurance subsidiary, Seguros Monterrey, was the largest in Mexico.
Adding to Visa's problems was dissatisfaction within the extended family. Javier Garza Calderon, who owned 45 percent of the holding company, tried unsuccessfully to wrest Visa from Eugenio,Gabriel, David, and Alejandro Garza Lagüera, who controlled the rest. He filed several suits charging Eugenio with mishandling the administration of the conglomerate but was ultimately unsuccessful in winning control. In 1991 Garza Calderon's father, Javier Garza Sepulveda, tried to gain control of Visa through his Grupo Center. He also failed but made a big profit by selling his family's stock back to Visa for $428 million.
With the integration of the Moctezuma brewery in 1985, the brands XX, Superior, Sol and Noche Buena were added to the brands Carta Blanca, Tecate, Bohemia and Indio.
In 1988 Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A. de C.V. was formed as the main subsidiary of Visa containing the beer and other companies. In 1994 FEMSA sold a 22 percent share of its beer business to John Labatt Ltd. of Canada and signed an agreement with Labatt to associate their respective companies in the United States. FEMSA became the successor of Visa in 1998. On January 11, 2010, the Dutch brewing company Heineken International announced it would acquire the beer activities of FEMSA, including Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery.[1]
The company operates plants in Monterrey, Tecate, Navojoa, Guadalajara, Toluca, Orizaba and for 2012 one in Chihuahua.
The company has an annual production of 3.09 GL (816,300,000 U.S. gal; 679,700,000 imp gal) (see also US gallons)
The Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery can be visited. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 17:00 and Saturday from 9:00 to 14:00. Tours are available free of charge and are offered in both English and Spanish.
The Brewery has a beer garden which offers a free glass of Bohemia, Dos Equis or Carta Blanca. The Garden features old brewery machines and a century-old beer truck. The garden's hours are every day from 10:00 to 18:00 hrs.
The company produces a range of pale and dark lagers, including Bohemia, Noche Buena and Sito de Kaiser. The latter is not yet exported to the US market.
The brewery's original premium beer. Carta Blanca takes its name from the French "carte blanche". Carta Blanca beer is meant as a token of thanks and respect to customers.
Introduced in the 1890s, originally called El Sol. The logo and presentation has not been changed. Sol beer is for sale in 4 sizes in Mexico: 500 ml (16.91 U.S. fl oz; 17.60 imp fl oz) (see also US fluid ounce) 355 ml (12.00 U.S. fl oz; 12.49 imp fl oz)-not refundable, aluminium can, 325 ml (10.99 U.S. fl oz; 11.44 imp fl oz) bottles and 940 ml (31.79 U.S. fl oz; 33.08 imp fl oz), this last is known as Caguama. New variations from Cerveza Sol arrive just this year: Sol Cero (non-alcohol beer), Sol Brava (a dark beer in a light dark bottle), Sol Light and Sol Sal y Limon (Sol with lime and salt).
The beer was originally named "Cerveza Cuauhtémoc" however many people simply asked for an Indio because of the picture of the Indian on the clay bottle. Indio beer has six sizes[2]: Aluminium can 325 ml (10.99 U.S. fl oz; 11.44 imp fl oz), 355 ml (12.00 U.S. fl oz; 12.49 imp fl oz)-not refundable and 325 ml (10.99 U.S. fl oz; 11.44 imp fl oz) bottles plus a refundable and not-refundable .5 litre bottle, a refundable 1.00 litre bottle and a 1.25 litre refundable bottle b[3] or.[4]
Bohemia takes its name from the Czech region that is one of the most recognized brewing areas in the World. It was launched at the turn of the 20th century as Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma's finest beer. Over the years, it has become the most awarded of Mexican beers. It's a pale pilsner although recently a new dark Vienna beer has been launched as "Bohemia Obscura" (See Picture)
Dos Equis is a lager that was originally brewed by the German-born Mexican brewer Wilhelm Hasse in 1897. The brand was named "Siglo XX" ("20th century") to commemorate the arrival of the new century, and the bottles were marked with the Roman numerals "XX", or "Dos Equis."
The main brand Dos Equis XX Special Lager is a 4.45% abv pale lager sold in green bottles.[5] Dos Equis XX Ambar is a 4.7% Vienna-style amber lager sold in brown bottles,[6] and was first exported to the United States in 1973.[7]
"The Most Interesting Man in the World" advertising campaign for Dos Equis features actors and Jonathan Goldsmith as the spokesman, with Frontline narrator Will Lyman conducting voiceovers.
Tecate and Tecate Light are popular pale lagers named after the city of Tecate, Baja California, where they were first produced. Originally brewed by a local company, Tecate was acquired by Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma in 1955. Tecate is sold in both distinctive red aluminium cans and in twist-top bottles. Tecate Light was launched in 1992 by Hector Emilio Ayala, who was the project manager.
In 2007, Dos Equis inaugurated its current advertising campaign, "The Most Interesting Man in the World."
The advertisements feature a semi-bearded, debonair, gentleman roughly in his 70s (portrayed by actor Jonathan Goldsmith).[8] While "Barcelona Nights" by Ottmar Liebert plays in the background, the advertisements featured a montage of daring exploits involving "the most interesting man" when he was younger. The precise settings are never revealed, but he performs interesting feats, such as: freeing an angry bear from a painful-looking bear trap, shooting a pool trick shot before an Indian audience (by shooting the cue ball out of the mouth of a man lying on the pool table), catching a marlin while cavorting in a Hemingway-esque scene with a beautiful, young woman, winning an arm-wrestling match in a South American setting, surfing the killer wave, and bench pressing two East Asian young women in a casino setting, each woman being seated in a chair.
At the end of the advertisement, the interesting man says, "I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis." Each commercial ends with a signature sign-off: "Stay thirsty, my friends."[7][9] The sign-off is also a Dos Equis sponsored website featuring the latest commercials and other information (which requires age verification).
Shorter television commercials feature the man giving his opinions on various subjects, such as:
In the fifth episode of The Simpsons' Season eight, "Bart After Dark," Marge references a "giant inflatable Dos Equis bottle." [10]
Tecate beer has begun advertising heavily in the U.S.; initially in the Spanish-language media and more recently in the English-language media. Their tag lines are "Con Carácter" ("With Character") and "It's not beer, it's cerveza".[11][12] In 2009, Tecate Light launched a television ad campaign targeted at the Mexican American community, which feature boxer Oscar de La Hoya and wrestler Rey Mysterio, Jr..[13] Also in 2009, Tecate announced a sponsorship agreement with ESPN sports.[14] Tecate was also promoted in Hellboy II when Hellboy and Abe Sapien drank them.
In Mexico, Tecate advertising has received criticism due to its portrayal of women, and its "machista" messages. The ads are, indeed, targeted to a male audience by characterizing clichés of traditional male roles in friendship and per their treatment of women.
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