Cervezas Mexicans: Or the Great Mexican Beer Standoff

Mexican pale lagers are pretty weak to those accustomed to American craft beers. Nonetheless, sometimes on very hot summer days nothing beats an ice cold, refreshing Mexican beer. The question is which of these beers should you buy? We did a (quasi) blind tasting to compare imported Mexican macro lagers.

Before we get to the results, a note or two on methodology. We excluded darker Mexican lagers like Negro Modelo and Dos Equis Amber. We tasted the beers one at a time, without lime. (I figured that lime could profitably be added to the best beer without making it worse, and of course lime might improve bad beer as well.) Kristen was our proctor; the test was not blind for her. Brian and I tasted blind. We tasted Pacifico, Bohemia, Tecate, Corona Extra, Carta Blanca, Dos Equis Lager, Trader Jose’s Mexican Lager (available at Trader Joe’s), Sol, and Model Especial, all in bottles. Be advised that canned beers may fare differently.

My pre-test predictions were that Dos Equis lager and Pacifico would finish near the top and that Tecate would finish at the bottom.

On to the results! We had two clear winners, quite a few in the middle, and three that fared quite poorly.

The overall winner by a hair was Modelo Especial. This beer was the most golden colored of the group. Body was “weak but balanced,” and there was a little hint of hop bitterness. Other notes “my favorite,” “pleasant, if hardly bold” and “nice flavor.”

Coming in at a very close second was Bohemia. While this beer was, like all of them, “mild,” it did have noticeably more malt body than many of the others. No real notable hop, but probably only a smidge less than Modelo.(Hops were generally totally lacking from all these beers). “Easy drinking” and “clean and balanced.” Keep an eye out for it.

Both Carta Blanca and Corona were acceptable to all, although “mellow,” “sweet,” “fine, order if pressed” and “got personality like Al Gore” (Corona) and “thin, a little sweet” “nothing to it” and “no aftertaste” (C.B.) might be damning with faint praise. Either will do in a pinch.

Although only available at Trader Joe’s, “Trader Jose’s” finished fairly well although being described as “ok,” and slightly “funky”/“funny.” With a lime, it’ll do the trick and it’s definitely the value winner since it retails for $4.99 a six pack.

Sol struck us as relatively flavorful, but not necessarily in a good way: “musty,” “wheat or grain hints,” “could use a lime.”

Surprisingly, Dos Equis lager and Pacifico were down at the bottom with the real loser Tecate.

Dos Equis comments: “thin,” drinkable with no character,” “skunky,” and “yuck.”

Pacifico: “very little maltiness or richness,” “slightly dehydrated urine” color, “metallic and mildly astringent,” and more positively “easy to drink.”

Tecate: “smells very bad,” “nasty” and “weird” aftertaste/finish, “yuck.”

So what have we learned? Well, these lagers just aren’t very good for the most part. Maybe you’re better off with Negro Modelo or Dos Equis Amber. We were all pretty surprised at the low finish for Pacifico and Dos Equis Lager. I’ll definitely look for Modelo Especial and Bohemia in bottles if I’m at a bar or restaurant, and I’ll probably buy Trader Jose’s for drinking at home with lime. Corona and Carta Blanca are acceptable if not savory. Avoid Tecate (except in a michaleda) at all costs!

(Thanks to Kristen for her help, and Brian for participating. Kristen did most of the work, although there wasn’t too much and all the funny comments are Brian’s.)