Salud! Searching for Mexican craft beer in Salinas
Familiar Mexican beers line the shelves. (Photo: Chelcey)
As many in Salinas celebrate Mexico's Independence Day, "El Grito," and Mexican culture this week, I began pondering Mexican beer.
Pale lagers like Corona, Tecate, and Modelo have long dominated the Mexican beer market, often served with a lime and salt.
Grupo Modelo, owned by Ambev, produces Corona, Modelo, Pacifico and Victoria, and garners 57 percent of the market, according to a 2013 USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report. Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, owned by Heineken now, produces Indio, Dos Equis, Tecate and Sol, and has 41 percent of the market.
Yet, the beer market in Mexico has been slowly but steadily moving toward craft since around 2003, with Mexican craft breweries, or, in Spanish, cervecerÃa artesanal mexicana, sprouting up across the country.
Many of them are flourishing in my old stomping ground: our neighboring Baja California.
But while there are now dozens of craft breweries in places like Mexicali, Tijuana and Cabo, not all of their products are making their way north of the border, making it difficult for locals to try them unless they travel closer to the border.
Mexican craft breweries like Baja Brewing Co., Agua Mala, Border Psycho, Insurgente, Cucapá, and TJ Beer are some of the ones that have started to creep in, and they are mostly found in smaller craft beer stores in the San Diego or Los Angeles areas.
And people stateside are interested. The Brewers Association's Export Development Program received $45,000 in funding from the USDA's Emerging Markets Program earlier this year to commission a research study examining the Mexican craft beer market. (I requested a copy of this report and hope to receive it soon).
Given Monterey County's — and in particular Salinas' — high Mexican population, those Mexican craft breweries will hopefully increase their reach here soon, but that all depends on discerning customers and distributors.
However, tucked in between Bohemia and Carta Blanca, I was happy to find "Cabotella" by Baja Brewing Co. at Salinas' own BevMo this week.
Cabotella from Baja Brewing Co. can be found tucked in the Mexican beer section at Bevmo. (Photo: Chelcey Adami)
Advertised as "Born in Cabo, Wanted in America," the brew was voted #1 Mexican craft beer by Playboy Magazine earlier this year. The golden blond ale is pleasant enough to sip on, but not something that really stood out to me, other than now being the only one commercially sold this far north.
I was lucky enough to attend multiple beer festivals in Mexicali over the last few years before moving to Salinas, and I look forward to more craft beer from Mexico making its way north, because they have a lot going on.
I recall trying a nice "Cream Ale" and "La Belga Sicotica" saison from Border Psycho Brewery, a delicious pale ale called "Coralillo" from Picachos Brewing Co., and a good "Bitter Summer ESB" from Big Bad Brewing Co., also known as Cerveza Tres B.
Rodrigo Hernández Mijares of Cerveza Tres B, which boasts two bars in Mexicali as well as a new one in Tijuana, said he's working with a distributor now as he aims to bring the company's beers to the states by 2016.
Wandering into Salinas' Costco this week also, I was surprised to see a large display of "Day of the Dead" beer being sold there. The company touts itself as "brewed and bottled by Cerveceria Mexicana in Tecate," but there's some controversy to whether or not this brand is really craft.
Day of the Dead variety pack touts itself as Mexican craft beer. (Photo: Chelcey Adami)
It's run by the third-largest brewery in Mexico and after springing up in 2013, could be found in stores across the States. It apparently has connections to Coors, according to a 2013 article by the Chicago Reader, but may be downplaying that as much as possible to help its marketing as a Mexican craft beer.
However, it does boast eye-catching bottle art and offers a variety to taste including "Pay the Ferryman" porter, "Hop on or Die" IPA, "Death Becomes You" amber ale, "Death Rides a Pale Horse" blonde ale "Queen of the Night" pale ale, "Immortal Beloved" Hefeweizen and "The Necromancer" chocolatl stout.
In the end, it's a nice change from traditional beers from Mexico, right? In the meantime, cheers and salud!
Follow Chelcey Adami's journey into the Monterey County craft beer scene on her blog "Toast to the Coast." Contact her at cadami@thecalifornian.com or 831-754-4261. Tasty beer tips welcome.
