Paste magazine blind tasting Mexican lager

This is something that is crazy to me. Corona is the worst Mexican lager I've had, and Paste seems to agree, for what that's worth, yet it's crazy expensive, literally craft pricing in my area at around $16 a twelve-pack or $9 a six-pack. Modelo is the same price, too. There's literally no time that I'm going to pick Modelo or Corona over Pabst or Hamm's ($15 for a 30-pack, or cheaper during common sales), and I flatly refuse to acknowledge that they are different styles, so why on earth would I ever buy a worse tasting product for over twice as much?

It's insane how susceptible people are to marketing and something as simple as wanting an allegedly perceptibly "classier" beverage in Corona. It blows my mind how popular that beer is in my area.

 

I don't think it's as nefarious as that. It's obvious that the beers are more or less in the same vein, a vein which is absolutely the same as American adjunct lagers; they just happen to be from south of the USA.

I think "Latin American beers" probably would have been more accurate, but I don't think Paste is being racist.

 

They're not doing themselves any favors buy calling them Mexican lagers!

But yes, I would probably agree with you.

 

I feel they're different than American macros, but that difference is pretty narrow. I'd rather have a Modelo than Hamms/PBR, but it's certainly not like the difference between say...Bohemia and those. I'd say most Mexican lagers are a subset of AAL and not a completely unique style. For what it's worth, Modelo and Tecate prices have come way down in the last few years. At least out here. They're more expensive than the bottom shelf American AALs, but on sale they can sometimes be pretty close to Bud, MGD, and Banquet. Corona always seems to carry a 25-30% premium, though. While not horrible, I feel it's actually kind of similar to High Life Light. Not sure if that beer still exists, though.

 

Agree to disagree as I'd take PBR or Hamm's or Miller High Life (all the same price) over many craft beers, let alone Modelo or Corona (as I said, I haven't had many, so I have yet to have Bohemia, which most here seem to think is the best one). I think PBR and Hamm's are far, far better than their more expensive AAL brethren as well. I put Corona almost on the same level as Rolling Rock and Grain Belt, which are offensively bad to my palate. I do drink Modelo when it's the only beer available in a Latin American restaurant, though. It's a solid brew.

I'll have to do a mini blind tasting with a few of these beers with PBR, Hamm's, and High Life to see if I can tell any significant difference and test my theory that they're really the same style.

 

Certainly not in the current social climate, no they are not.

 

I actually did a blind of Bud, MGD, Corona, Stella, Modelo, and Michelob last time I was in Las Vegas. For what it's worth, you might be surprised how much bolder Corona was vs. the MGD and especially the Bud. Modelo was even more so. Michelob was a much closer comparison, and it's actually an all-malt beer. Stella was night and day bolder than everything, though. I can see people actually preferring any of those (depending on what you want), but I don't know how debatable the strength of flavor is. I'll have to toss some "old man" beers into the mix next time.

 

Corona (and others) are selling a lifestyle and lots of folks are buying it (at a premium).

Find your beach!

Cheers!

 

This site might reflect that “craft” brewers and drinkers are doing the same.

 

Yeah, my blind of AALs yielded PBR a clear winner followed by Miller High Life and Coors Banquet. I had a bad can of Hamm's in that one, but a later blind with PBR, Hamm's, Coors, High Life, Urban Chestnut Urban Underdog, and Founders Solid Gold yielded Urban Underdog the winner followed by PBR and then Hamm's (then High Life, then Solid Gold dead last). I didn't have any Mexican/Latin American lagers, so I look forward to doing that at some point if only to prove to myself whether they're observably different or not.

Oh, and Bud and MGD did terribly in my blind tasting with both being saved from dead last by only Grain Belt, Rolling Rock, and Busch.

 

This might be an aside here, but what makes Bohemia just so darn tasty?

I've always found it to be far better tasting than the other Mexican lagers, even before I got into craft. How much is perception--does that classy gold wrapper and understated label speak of a more sophisticated drink? Do they brew it with adjuncts (or in the same amount) as the others?

 

I spent a week in Costa Rica last summer and drank plenty of Imperial and Pilsen (pretty much the 2 easy to find brews in stores/restaurants down there). All 3 of us in our party prefered Pilsen over Imperial for what its worth. Both refreshing and drinkable tropical jungle beers, but Pilsen was the better beer, and not even in the Paste contest.

With that said Pilsen isn't as good as many others. I'm a Sol, Dos Equis, Landshark and Estrella Jalisco (my new personal favorite) fan.

I can't say I've ever seen Famosa in the US anywhere but not like I'm looking for it.

 

Ah, Imperial. Made with fine geothermal water from CR. Smells like volcano farts from the can.