Boozin’ Blog

There are really only two choices when it comes to Mexican beer styles - light lager and amber lager.

You know that most famous of the light lagers - Corona. There are a few others and they all taste about the same. There’s not a lot to say beyond that.

The amber lagers are a little bit more interesting. For a while there in the mid/late twentieth century beers like Negro Modelo and Dos Equis Amber were among a very few examples of an otherwise dead beer style known as Vienna Lager. The craft beer renaissance has reversed that but these Mexican amber lagers deserve our respect. With a fizzy profile and sweet flavor, these ambers are popular in texmex restaurants as they pair very will with the spicy, greasy food.

Lemons and Limes

If you have ever ordered a Mexican beer in a bar or restaurant, chances are it arrived with a wedge of citrus. For this reason, I have a theory that most fans of Corona and other Mexican lagers don’t actually know what they taste like. Without the fruit, the light lagers taste about the same as other light lagers from the rest of the world. That blast of citrus really adds a nice flavor to the otherwise bland beer. I say if this is the style you want to drink, go right ahead and add the fruit. At least you’ll have something to taste.

A recent trend among the big beer brewers like Miller and Anheuser-Busch Inbev has been to produce what I call pre-limed beers. They are packaged in clear bottles, clearly inspired by Coronna’s iconic glass bottle. These beers also come with a bit of salt added to the mix. Strange concoctions, indeed. If I’m going to add anything to my beer, I’d prefer to do it myself so I can choose the proportions. But that’s just me.

Red Beer

This is another addition to beer that’s popular in Mexico. I’m not sure where the practice of combining beer and tomato juice originated but red beers can be very tasty. If you try this yourself, start at about 1/3 juice and 2/3 beer then adjust the recipe to your taste. People like to add all sorts of stuff to this drink - salt, lime, hot sauce, clam juice - so pick your poison and enjoy.

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Have I told you about my buddy, Dwayne? Probably not since I just made him up.

See, Dwayne is an old drinking buddy of mine. He’s great to take along when I go out drinking because I never have to pick up his tab. He also drinks very little so if I find myself enjoying the juice a little too much, he can drive.

Also, he asks great, pithy questions that allow me to pull on my vast store of knowledge about alcohol. This is a great topic to be an expert on because the more you and your audience drink, the more credible the bullshit you’re pulling out of your ass seems.

It’s of little consequence that Dwayne is entirely fictitious. In fact, it can be quite useful to have an imaginary friend like him at times. Like right now - which is a big reason that I invented him just now - because when one talks about Cinco de Mayo as a holiday it takes a great deal of reality suspension.

Think about texmex. Dwayne calls you up and says let’s go out for some Mexican and a few beers. You probably don’t think of actual Mexican cuisine, you think of that food that came out of the Mexican American clash of cultures - texmex. So is true of Cinco de Mayo. Unlike Dwayne, Cinco de Mayo as a holiday isn’t entirely fictitious but it’s close enough.

The day remembers the unlikely victory of the Mexican army over the French back in 1862. It is an unofficial holiday and the limited celebrations happen only in one corner of the country.

Not so here in the US. At some point, someone, probably a beer marketer, noticed this holiday that sort of feels like Mexican Independence Day to an American - victory over a more powerful European foe named for the day and month on which it occurred - was happening right on the cusp of summer. What a great time to sell a lot of beer.

I’m not knocking this kind of genesis of a holiday. St. Patrick’s Day happened in much the same way and I celebrate it and my tenuous claim on an Irish heritage with much vigor every year. These days, St. Paddy’s is celebrated in Ireland just as enthusiastically as it is in Boston. I won’t be surprised to see the same thing happen with Cinco de Mayo. Each year, the day seems to get more attention here in the US, no doubt our interpretation of the day will begin to infect Mexican culture. I mean, given the choice between accepting a reason to drink and party and denying it, most level headed people will choose the party.

Dwayne tells me to shut the hell up and get on with it. Okay, so over the next few weeks, we’ll be looking to ways to drink like a Mexican on Cinco de Mayo. As I pointed out above, not a lot of Mexicans really observe the day so let’s call this the texmex version. When I say drink like a Mexican, I really mean to drink like we think the Mexicans drink.

Got it? Good.

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I’m not advocating beer for breakfast. Not that I have a problem with it. Want beer for breakfast? Go ahead; see if I care. Just keep your mitts off my morning bourbon.

At issue here is a new IPhone app from Pacifico. It’s an alarm clock that features a live feed of a rooster. Yup, you can now be gently awakened in the morning to the soothing sounds of a rooster crowing from atop your dresser.

This is part of an overall beer 2.0 marketing thrust from the Mexican brewer. It also includes a blog written by Pacifico employee Ira Evan Nevius. Like the alarm clock, the blog seems to have nothing to do with beer except that it is sponsored by a brewer. Ira’s blog seems to focus on his adventure-vacation lifestyle.

That’s all fine but how does the beer taste? One has to wonder of a brewer whose entire marketing efforts seem to concentrate on distracting the audience from the product itself.

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Often mischaracterized as Mexican Independence Day, Cinco de Mayo has spread well beyond Mexico’s borders and is enthusiastically celebrated here in the US. In the same spirit as St. Patrick’s Day when everyone seems to turn Irish, Cinco de Mayo celbrants in the US seek to embrace the culture of their neighbor to the south and what better way than to drink copious amounts of their beer? Here are four popular ways to do just that:

Mexican Light Lager – Cram a lime wedge into the neck of Coronna, Sol, Tecate or any of the other Mexican light lagers and you’re set for the fiesta.

Mexican Amber Lager – Almost as popular as Mexico’s light lagers are their amber lagers. Countries as warm as Mexico don’t tend to produce a lot of ales so the amber lager, a descent of the Vienna lager brought over from Austria in the 1800’s, is about as dark as things get for popular beer brands.

Micheladas – Want an authentic Mexican beer experience but just opening a bottle of Corona seems too easy? Well, how about the classic Mexican beer mixed drink, the Michelada. This is a drink that takes the practice of adding lime juice and salt to a beer to the next level. Check out the recipe for the classic Michelada here.

Mexican Ale – OK, I know what I said earlier but Mexico does produce a few ales if lagers just don’t do it for you. It takes some effort but Mexican ales can be found. Cervas Minerva brews a stout and one of the “Big Two” in Mexico, Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma – Grupo Modela is the other - produces a few English ales under the Castra brand.

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This isn’t about a couple of girlfriends or wives that I’ve left in my wake. No, it’s an unraveling of a mystery that has likely occurred to more than one fan of Mexican beer. Why Dos Equis (two Xs)? I myself have wondered this many times between mouthfuls of chips and salsa washed down by the sweet amber brew at my local Mexican watering hole.

What do Xs typically symbolize? Well, I must admit that when I see more than one X I think pornography. Can’t help it and I won’t apologize for it. It just pops into my head – x-rated and all of that. But there’s nothing pornographic about this popular Mexican beer, is there? I’d call the citrus that bartenders insist on shoving into the neck of the bottle every time I order one obscene but not pornographic. But that’s not likely the connection.

So what else could it be?

Does it have something to do with chromosomes? You know that whole XX/XY gender determination thing?
How about algebra? Is this finally the way that I will use high school math in the real world just like my teachers promised?
What about Roman numerals? Bingo!

According to the Dos Equis website, the two Xs originally showed up on the label of a beer called Siglo XX which translates into Twentieth Century. Back then they were partying like it was 1899 and this beer was brewed to celebrate the coming of the new century. It was a hit. After the calendar turned over they kept the beer and just changed the name to Dos Equis.

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