It’s highly unlikely that anyone thinks 2023 is going to be the year cask beer makes a comeback. That said, I continue clutching to any signs of hope. And there are some. Before getting to the glass half full, lets get the bad news out of the way.

In October of last year, Seattle’s Machine House Brewery announced its future was up in the air. With their lease up in June of ’23, their new landlord is using the opportunity to jack up the rent. The unaffordable increase is forcing the brewery to look elsewhere or consider closing up shop.

Machine House Brewery, Seattle.

I’m grateful I was able to make it there last year. The beer was great, and Seattle has been incredibly lucky to have them. The bad news is making me very anxious to see what their next move is.   

Speaking of closures, the last few months have been grim for breweries in cask beer’s homeland. It seems we don’t go more than a few days without hearing another UK brewery is closing.

And cask beer continues to struggle there. This was stressed in a September 2022 blog post on the subject by Pete Brown where he said, “it’s time to cauterise the wound that’s bleeding out.”   

A key point he makes is that there are too many pints being served that are in bad form. This is in many ways due to a lack of turnover, which is crucial for a beer style that only has a few days after the cask is tapped before starting to go bad. Greedy or uneducated pubs will ignore or overlook this issue.

This is problematic because the bad beer will send cask enthusiasts away from a pub. Likely not to return. At least not for cask beer. They’re also likely to spread the word to other customers. And for those new to cask, well, there’s never a second chance to make a first impression.

Brown suggests the pubs with low turnover should stop selling cask. Take out the hand pumps. He says, “once you’ve stopped the rot, you can start the recovery. Once you can be sure that curious, younger drinkers will be served a pint that won’t put them off for life, you can feel safe giving them good reasons to try it.” It’s too soon to tell whether these words have resonated in an enduring way.

Now to the optimistic bit. Despite all the bad news, there continues to be great brewers making cask beer and great pubs that serve them in the UK. Older breweries including Fuller’s, Timothy Taylor’s, Greene King, and Harvey’s continue to crank out well-received casks. Others like Black Sheep, Titanic, Abbeydale, Marble, and Coniston do as well. But what is perhaps most promising is that a younger generation of brewers are carrying on the tradition, putting their spin on cask beer and breathing life into this traditional format. This includes breweries like Thornbridge, Five Points, Fyne Ales, and RedWillow.

Further, there are still iconic pubs that have the knowledge to properly care for and serve these beers. Places like The Southampton Arms, The Marble Arch, and The Rutland Arms.

Full disclosure, I say all this as someone who has never set foot on the island (if anyone wants to sponsor a trip there for me to find out what’s happening firsthand, my DMs are open.)

Speaking of Black Sheep, they’re holding their ‘Drink Cask Beer’ festival in late April. It’s being held in support of their broader campaign launched last year with the same name as the festival. Find out more info about the fest here, and the campaign here. Watch the video. It’s great.

Bulls Head Public House, Lititz, Pennsylvania

Stateside, there has been no noticeable shift in cask beer consumption. Maybe that’s a good thing. It’s not getting better, but it's also not getting worse.

Bulls Head Public House in Lititz, Pennsylvania is still pulling cask pints in tip-top shape. In addition to having casks from brewers in the region that excel in making cask beer, they’re fortunate to get casks from overseas as well. On my recent pass through there, they had Harviestoun’s Ola Dubh 12 Year Special Reserve Imperial Porter and Forest and Main’s pub ale called ‘Stone Flower’. The latter is a British-style beer but brewed with Munich malt.

Not too far away from Bulls Head, Bethlehem’s Bonn Place Brewing Company is also holding steady with its mix of traditional ales and contemporary beers. Bonn has a good approach to their cask program. They tap just one cask each week on Wednesday or Thursday, and it usually goes within two to three days. Perfect timing for cask beer. Not perfect for me as I stopped by recently on a Saturday night and their pub ale called ‘Mooey’ had just kicked from the hand pull. They still had it on nitro though, which was lovely.  

Bonn Place Brewing Company, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Though not the cask version, this nitro draft of their Bitter ‘Mooey’ was tasting good.

Dutchess Ales recently tapped a cask of ‘Mizmaze’, their ESB, at The Grand Delancey in New York City. This is one of my favorites from them, so I stopped in for a couple. Owner Mike Messenie was around for the event and promptly asked the staff to remove the sparklers from the hand pull. Though I don’t have strong feelings on this issue, I get a kick out of those that do. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this article by Lily Waite.

I’m really happy to see that Dutchess is still in the cask game, still incredibly passionate about their beer, and still ensuring the places that serve them are doing so in a way that meets their standards. This is critical to the success of cask sales.

‘Mizmaze’, and ESB by Dutchess Ales.

On the other side of the East River, Brooklyn, New York’s Strong Rope Brewery held its 7th Caskiversary on February 4th.  The event featured local breweries, and this year’s lineup seemed to have less messing around with styles than last year. To me, that’s a great thing. I get the urge to want to do something unique, a one-off, but honestly, a pint of cask Bitter is unique. It’s a rare opportunity to simply have traditional, or contemporary style beer, from a cask. No need to add gummy bears, or whatever. I tasted a couple of very good Bitters, a Stout, a Dubbel, and even a couple of good lagers.

There were some carbonation and clarity issues here and there, but overall, the beer was good. Two standouts for me that I hadn’t had before were KCBC’s ESB and Kills Boro’s Vienna Lager.

Looking ahead, this year brings great news for cask fans in the Northeast. In March, the New England Real Ale Exhibition returns after a Covid hiatus. The event will take place March 29-April 1 in Boston and will include over 100 cask-conditioned beers and ciders from the US and the UK. I highly doubt I will be able to make it, but I’m going to try my best.  

Also in the Northeast, on March 26th Connecticut’s Nod Hill will hold ‘An Afternoon of Casks’ and in New Hampshire, there will be ‘Cask.On’. Connecticut’s Two Roads Brewing will host the ‘Two Roads Cask Festival: Now Streaming’ on March 31st. Down in Jersey, River Horse Brewing Company is having its ‘Cask Fest 2023’ on February 25th.  

You may have noticed that I’ve been referring to “cask beer” instead of “cask ale”. That is intentional because there are several folks making delicious cask lager. I think there’s something to this, and I’m working on something that you will hopefully see later this year. Stay tuned.

Mexican Lagers are fairly common offerings at breweries across America now. This is particularly true around Cinco de Mayo. Unfortunately, these releases often come with artwork that appropriates Mexican culture. To make matters worse, they frequently spread stories about what Mexican Lager is, including its history, that is often wrong or misleading.

Culturally appropriative imagery. If you see a beer with this kind of stuff on the label, beware. Source: the internet.

(Two notes upfront. First, for my vegan and vegetarian friends, this post contains pictures of Mexican food that includes meat. Second, I’ve flirted with this subject before in an earlier post on Vienna Lager, which can be viewed here.)

So, what is Mexican Lager? It’s often said that it’s a pale lager (but sometimes amber, sometimes darker), made with adjuncts. These days, that primarily means a corn-based product. This definition is true, but also broad and doesn’t distinguish Mexico from a number of other lager producing countries. This includes the United States, which began making adjunct lager shortly before Mexico did. Accordingly, organizations like the Beer Judge Certification Program explicitly place Mexican Lagers under the International Pale and International Amber Lager categories instead of creating a distinct classification. Darker Mexican lagers fall under the International Dark Lager category.  

American lager brewers began using adjuncts because the six-row type of barleys domestically available had challenges comparatively to the two-row barleys beer-drinking cultures in Europe were accustomed to. Six-row barleys were high in proteins and tannins and contributed a haziness and astringency to beer.

Adjuncts like corn and rice helped make a smoother, clearer beer, while still contributing fermentable sugars. Despite the idea that they were a way to cut corners, corn and rice were at times more expensive than barley, but worth it as it resulted in a better product than beer made with all six-row malt.

The type of adjuncts used in typical lager brewing don’t often contribute a significant impression in terms of flavor themselves (though they will help dry out malty sweetness). However, they replace fermentables that do. This can result in a less flavorful beer than one made solely with barley. Sometimes less is more though.

Brewers that either worked or trained in the United States brought this type of brewing with them to Mexico in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

Corona, the classic Mexican Lager that includes corn in the grain mix. Sure, it’s great for the beach or Cinco de Mayo, but it’s also enjoyable year-round. Hold the lime and the sombrero.

Before diving in further, it’s important to note that most of the documentation I have reviewed was written in English and from sources that are overwhelmingly not from Mexico. A few of these references did rely on research that included Mexican sources. I bring this up as it’s important to exercise a bit of caution due to whitewashing, especially with older literature influenced by ideology we know today to be faulty. I have tried my best to see through biased and bigoted sentiments.

An example is how some described the native drink pulque in comparison to beer. Pulque is a fermented beverage made with sap from the agave plant. It has a similar ABV to typical beer. Historically, pulque was widely consumed in Mexico. Reminiscences of Mexico (in Frank Leslie’s New Family Magazine, October 1858) notes, “the inhabitants of the Mexican capital can no more exist without pulque than New York Germans without lager bier.”

With no legitimate basis, the 1903 edition of One Hundred Years of Brewing describes pulque as "unwholesome". “Pulque” it says, “is consumed by the proletariat, who drink it out of large rubel, or tin cups, until they are besotted.” Referring to the growth of the Mexican brewing industry, the 1901 edition of the book states “the end of the nineteenth century already witnesses the erection of several new breweries. Let us hope, then, that our precious barley-juice may soon be established as the favorite drink of the Mexican, and that the death sentence be pronounced on pulque.”

Lager beer in its early days in Mexico was much more expensive than pulque and unaffordale to most Mexicans. Yet it seemed to the authors of One Hundred Years of Brewing and others that Mexicans should be thankful to them for bringing a more wholesome beverage to their country. Just one more way to conquest a culture.  

Mexican Lager History

Returning to the question of what Mexican Lager is, it’s important to understand the industry’s history. I’m including a particular focus on two breweries, Cervecera de Toluca y México and Cervecería Cuauhtémoc, as they were pivotal in the industry’s growth.

People of Mexico have long enjoyed fermented beverages of varying kinds. Among others, these include tequila, mezcal, the previously mentioned pulque, and tesgüino (the first three are made from the agave plant. Tesgüino is a form of beer made with corn). It is often said that beer was first introduced to the area by the Spaniards in the 16th century. That may be true if you are discussing beer in the European tradition, but tesgüino was made well before the Spanish arrival. European-style beer did not become a notable part of Mexican culture until a few centuries later. This was due to lager.

The 1800s were a turbulent time in Mexico, beginning with the fight for independence from the Spanish in the earlier part of the century. In the decades following the Mexican War of Independence, the country became home to immigrants from what is now Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, among others. Some began brewing beer locally, while others imported it from their native lands. The beer these immigrants brewed was ale.

In 1864, the Second Mexican Empire was created by the French, who selected an Austrian, Maximilian I, to be emperor. It was short-lived, and Maximilian was executed in 1867. However, his very brief presence has generated stories that include him bringing his love of Vienna Lager to Mexico. To satiate his thirst, he brought brewers with him to make the beloved Austrian beer. However, there’s no evidence this actually happened. This is not surprising as the lack of refridgeration in Mexico at that time made lager production incredibly difficult since it requires cold temperatures for fermentation and aging.1  

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The history of the lager brewing industry in Mexico begins with Santiago Graf at Cervecera de Toluca y México. Toluca, or what became Toluca, was founded in 1865 by Agustin Marendaz. Both Graf and Marendaz were of Swiss origin. Marendaz was making a type of ale called Cerveza Sencilla when Graf acquired the brewery in 1875 (some accounts say 1879), but it would be a few years before lager would be produced.2,3

Due to the construction of a rail line between Texas and Mexico shortly after Graf took over, he was able to import the first ice machine into Mexico to his brewery in the early 1880s. This allowed him to produce the first lager made in Mexico as far as I know. Dates in the records vary a little, but it’s possible the actual brewing of lager beer began in 1884 or 1885, and the release of the beer to the public was in 1885 or 1886.   

It’s unclear what type of beer this first release was, but within a few years, Toluca was making a variety of lager styles. One ad notes Toluca Extra, Lager, Pilsner, Standard and Bock (note the absence of Vienna). Ales were still part of the portfolio for a little while. An early advertisement with Toluca Lager refers to two types of Pale Ale, including Doble (double) and Sencilla.

Early ads for Cervecera de Toluca y México. Source: Wiecherspedia

It also made “steem beer”, according to One Hundred Years of Brewing (1901). This account may very well be referring to Dampfbier (which translates to steam beer). There are a variety of stories about what Dampfbier is, or was. The term in this case may just refer to a beer brewed with steam as a heat source.

Toluca’s success led to additional investment in 1890, which resulted in tremendous growth. For a couple of decades, it was one of the leading breweries in the country, making around 100,000 barrels of beer per year. For reference, this is exponentially more than most independent breweries make today. Their success led to American breweries such as Anheuser-Busch being “crowded out” of the market in Mexico City, according to One Hundred Years of Brewing (1901).

Toluca began producing the amber lager Victoria in 1906. This beer is still in production, and it’s one of my favorite Mexican beers. Some erroneously refer to Victoria first being brewed in 1865 when the brewery opened. The Victoria website itself, along with other marketing, is misleading as it insinuates this. Oddly enough, the website also notes the introduction in 1906.

Two early ads for Victoria. Of note is how one explicitly states the beer is for the aristocracy. The other states the hops and malt are from Munich. Source: Wiecherspedia

“Drink Beer from Toluca or Don’t Drink.” Source: Wiecherspedia

A fitting pairing. Victoria, with its origings connected to two Swiss immigrants, and enchiladas suizas, or Swiss-style enchiladas.

Cervecería Cuauhtémoc was founded in the early 1890s and production began in 1891. The name Cuauhtémoc comes from the Aztec ruler who bravely defended indigenous people from the Spanish in the 1500s.

It appears their first beer was released to the market in 1892. The brewery was started by Francisco Sada, Isaac Garza, and José A. Muguerza of Mexico, along with Joseph M. Schnaider of St. Louis. Schnaider came from a successful brewing family and had solid experience in the business. Ignoring the three Mexican owners, the 1901 edition of One Hundred Years of Brewing notes him being referred to as the “beer king of Mexico”.

Within a few years, the brewery was winning awards all around the world with its Carta Blanca brand, including at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 (the World’s Fair), which took place in Chicago. Cuauhtémoc was the brewery that propelled Mexico into the international realm of brewing, and it was with this pale lager that to this day proudly notes on the label “Gran Premio de Chicago 1893”.

By the turn of the century, they were already making around 100,000 barrels per year, according to both the 1901 and 1903 editions of One Hundred Years of Brewing, and were in the process of expansion. By 1910, they were up to 300,000 barrels.

The 1903 edition indicates the brewery was making light and dark “American” beers. It’s unclear what is meant by American beers, but it may very well mean adjunct lager. Cuauhtémoc was using rice, but they were definitely influenced by European brewing traditions. The brewery had a Munich-inspired brand called Salvator, and, later, Bohemia (1905).   

A 1901 article by WM. J. Bischoff in Letters on Brewing Vol.1 describes the brewery employing 800 men. According to the article, the brewery’s success enabled the company to pay the staff well, such that they were able to purchase Cuauhtémoc instead of “poison” like pulque.

The brewery’s growth was incredible, and they established brands early on that are still in existence today. They are Mexico’s oldest beer brands.  

Historic Carta Blanca advertisements. The first being a bit bizarre. Source: Pinterest. The second from http://fermintellez.blogspot.com/ “Carta Blanca, it’s a pleasure”.

A Cervecería Cuauhtémoc booth at a 1907 fair in Madrid. The booth indicates the brewery had previously won awards in places like Chicago, Paris, St. Louis, Milan among others. From the book Don Isaac Garza by Edgardo Reyes Salcido.

The rise of the lager beer industry flourished during the prosperity of the Porfiriato, the era of the dictator Porfirio Diaz (1876-1910). But prosperity was not evenly distributed, and those not on board with Diaz did not fare well. Publications in the US did not see this as an issue and welcomed the change brought by Diaz. Indeed, there were a number of people in the US who financially benefited from the Diaz regime.

Ever since the very beginning of lager brewing in the country, the industry has been big business. Small operations simply couldn’t get far given the high costs associated with starting a lager brewery, particularly without support from the goverment.

The prosperity was put on pause with the overthrow of the Diaz regime, which was followed by a decade of revolution. The brewing industry suffered during this period, including hard times for Toluca which withered until it was acquired by Grupo Modelo in 1935 (Modelo was founded in 1922).

Once peace was established in the 1920s, the landscape had changed with a handful of brands rising in prominence (i.e. Cuauhtémoc, Moctezuma and Modelo) and others left behind. The timing was great for those that survived and for new ones, such as Modelo. At this time, Prohibition was in effect in the United States, which created demand for smuggled Mexican beer. It also encouraged Americans to visit Mexico to freely enjoy beer, and it eliminated competition from US imports. Also, Mexican brewers were able to purchase brewing equipment from closed US breweries at a discount price.  

It’s around this same time that scholars Susan Gauss and Edward Beatty in “The World’s Beer: The Historical Geography of Brewing in Mexico” (The Geography of Beer: Regions, Environments, and Societies) note breweries “’Mexicanized’ production by developing internal technical expertise and by diversifying and integrating their investments into ancillary processes. The well-known Garza Sada group in Monterrey, owners of the Cervecería Cuauhtémoc, commonly sent their children and the firms technicians to study abroad.” Luis Sada, son of one Francisco Sada, was sent to the United States for training at the Wahl and Henius Brewing Academy in Chicago.

Wahl and Henius was connected to the growth of the Mexican lager industry. According to One Hundred Years of Brewing (1901), all the early lager breweries in Mexico had brewers that had trained at Wahl and Henius except Toluca. This may have been an exaggeration, which is reflected in the 1903 edition of the book that broadens this statement to say that aside from Toluca the brewers were all from America. Again, this may have been an exaggeration and/or misleading as well.

Isaac Garza’s son, Eugenio Garza Sada helped bring the training element home by establishing the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in 1943. The institute enabled Mexicans to achieve the type of training to run a successful brewery, among other professions, without having to leave Mexico.  

With all this change, Gauss and Beatty note, “between the 1930s and 1950s, Mexico became a nation of beer drinkers.” The campaign against pulque was successful and most pulque bars (pulquerias) closed by this time, though they didn’t completely disappear.

As noted above, Grupo Modelo was created in the 1920s, a few decades after the birth of the lager brewing industry in Mexico, and it came out swinging. The brewery brought in Adolf Schmedtje, a brewer from Anheuser-Busch, who created Corona and Modelo. (Schmedtje’s mother was Aldophus Busch’s niece). The brewery was created with the capability of producing 300,000 barrels per year.  

Modelo went on to acquire Estrella and Pacífico in the 1950s and was ultimately acquired itself by AB-InBev in 2012. Similarly, Cuautémoc, which had merged with Moctezuma (maker of Dos Equis) in 1985, was acquired by Heineken in 2010.

A dish influenced by Middle Eastern immigrants, tacos árabes are traditionally made from spit-roasted pork (shawarma) and served on a pita. The Mexican restaurants in my area use flour toritallas. The dish has a little kick with a chipotle salsa, and is rinsed down nicely with a cold Pacífico.

Ingredients

It’s true that adjuncts are a notable part of Mexican Lager. In its earliest days, the use of adjuncts in Mexican Lager reflected the American beer industry. Most breweries imported grain from the US and Germany. They faced the same challenges with six-row barley noted above. Early on, some breweries like Toluca and La Perla were making their own malt, according to both editions of One Hundred Years of Brewing.  

The 1901 edition of One Hundred Years of Brewing noted that Mexican lager was being brewed with a grain bill including fifteen to thirty percent rice. Some brewers may have used more or less than this. Several accounts describe domestic rice being high quality, and Toluca and Cuauhtémoc both used rice in these early days. The book also explicitly stated Toluca did not use corn. However, at some point, most if not all shifted to corn-based adjuncts.

Writing about Mexican Lager in 1901, Adolph Dietsch of Cervecería Cuauhtémoc stated in ‘Beer Breweries in the Republic of Mexico’ (Letters on Brewing Volumes 1-2) “in general, there are two kinds of native lager beers, the Münchener (decoction) and the Pilsner (infusion) beers.” For the former, he noted ingredients were “almost exclusively” from Germany and Austria. One oddity is that he mentioned the malt was made from Chevalier barley, a heritage barley from England.  

For the Pilsner-style beers, he distinguished these from the Münchener style beers by noting the addition of “raw cereals” to the grain bill, specifically citing rice. This could support the suggestion that some beer styles did not use adjuncts. He also noted the use of Bohemian and Bavarian hops.

Cuauhtémoc’s Bohemia is a wonderful example of a pale Mexican Lager. It goes really well with a spicy Torta Ahogada, that blurry hot mess in the background. In this case, hot mess is a wonderful thing.

There’s not a whole lot in the records I’ve searched regarding yeast. However, in the book Taste, Politics, and Identities in Mexican Food, the chapter “Dos Equis and Five Rabbit: Beer and Taste in Greater Mexico” notes the following regarding yeast in the early days of Mexican lager brewing, “the preferred variety of brewer’s yeast in Mexico was Wahl and Henius’s pure lager culture, known as Chicago Number 1.” I’m curious if White Labs’ Mexican Lager Yeast (WLP 940) has any connection to this Wahl and Henius strain.

The Mexican government placed high tariffs on beer and beer-related imports during the early days of lager brewing (for some reason, an exception was made for hops). This cost the breweries large sums of money to obtain equipment and ingredients, but also forced them to begin producing some of their needs locally. However, it gave them a financial advantage over imported American beer.

Though this post primarily discusses the industry historically, I can’t help but mention water. Like yeast, it’s not really mentioned in the records I’ve reviewed. But in recent times, the country has been hard hit by droughts, raising serious health concerns. The breweries have largely been unfazed. This past summer, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stepped in announcing that brewing operations would cease in the northern part of the country. He hasn’t actually enforced this, but feeling the pressure, breweries are looking for ways to use less water and ensure they are providing some for the community. Whether they’re doing enough is a subject for another forum.  

Today

Water challenges aside, the big breweries in Mexico, albeit now owned by companies overseas, continue to do well and continue to be a part of the worldwide beer-drinking culture.

Small, independent brewers are slowly becoming a presence as well. One potential benefit of the now international ownership of the larger breweries is a somewhat less combative attitude toward independent brewers. Most of the small brewers are making ales and appear to have little interest in lager, let alone adjunct lager. It seems very reminiscent of the independent beer scene in the United States in its first few decades of revival.

One brewery of note that has taken an interest in lager is Cervecera Hércules, particularly at their Lagerbar location in Mexico City. Their portfolio is diverse, but at the Lagerbar, it’s strictly bottom-fermented beer on the menu. This includes a 100-percent Vienna malt Vienna Lager and a pale lager made with corn.

Cans of adjunct lager and Vienna Lager (made with Vienna Malt and no adjuncts) by Cervecera Hércules. Images: Cervecera Hércules

Serving lager at the Cervecera Hércules Lagerbar in Mexico. Source: Lagerbar Instagram page.

In addition to traditional and contemporary beer mentioned thus far, there’s another beer tradition that’s worthy of mention. Michelada. Maybe you’ve seen a can of it at your local convenience store. A Michelada is a beer cocktail that varies widely based on who is making it. They can be salty, spicy, sweet and sour. Typical ingredients beyond beer include lime juice, spices, hot sauce, and tomato juice, but again, they will vary as people like to add their own creative touch. They’re somewhat reminiscent of a Bloody Mary and often used as a hangover remedy. Most major breweries make a packaged version, but one of the greatest parts of a freshly made Michelada is the spectacle. They can be really ostentatious. They’re also much better tasting than the packaged versions.

Examples of the beer cocktail Michelada. Source: Mariah Tauger LA Times.

Some of Modelo’s canned Micheladas. Source Modelo

Finally, though it’s not beer, since I mentioned it earlier, it should be noted that there has been a resurgence of pulque. A new generation interested in native traditions has breathed life into the drink that saw a sharp decline as it was replaced by beer in the mid-twentieth century. Now, new pulquerias are popping up, and manufacturers have managed to create packaged versions of the drink with a notoriously short shelf life. They can even be found in certain places in the United States.

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The history of lager brewing in Mexico is nothing short of impressive, and Mexican Lager is something that should be celebrated. The country is now the largest exporter of beer and one of the largest consumers in the world. Its beer is on par with the best on the international market and it can be found around the globe. For a nation that many still don’t identify as having a high-quality beer tradition, something typically reserved for countries with paler skin tones (perhaps the lingering impact of when Corona was referred to as “piss water”), the rise to this status is remarkable. However, to “celebrate” Mexican Lager by appropriating Mexican culture is wrong.

Diminishing the value of Mexican Lager by saying it’s just like any other adjunct lager is also wrong and offensive. Ashley Rodriguez rightly noted in an article for CraftBeer.com, “to pretend the style has no clear-cut stance is to ignore the way non-Latinx people in the United States perceive – and flatten – Latinx culture.”

Though people who were not Mexican were important in the growth of the brewing industry in Mexico, as the industry grew, Mexicans made it their own. To be clear, there is history, culture, and ingredients that make Mexican Lager unique.

Just as brewers use the labels Japanese Lager, Polish Lager, or Italian Pils, it’s right to identify Mexican Lager as something distinct. Does it constitute a “style”? In certain situations, perhaps not. And that’s fine if it’s treated as equally as other beer cultures.

It’s quite a challenge for a non Mexican-owned brewery that’s not in Mexico itself to represent the character of Mexican Lager in an inoffensive way. Making an adjunct lager and slapping stereotypical Mexican imagery on the label doesn’t cut it.

We should also move past referring to amber Mexican Lagers as being in the Vienna style. Amber lagers from the Czech Republic and Franconia don’t get the same treatment. The only connection amber lagers made in Mexico have to Vienna Lager is the use of lager yeast and color, and even that is questionable. To continue to call these beers “Vienna Lager” is incorrect and diminishes the Mexican tradition of brewing amber lager, which has been more enduring and robust than in the United States or Austria.

Admittedly, some Mexican breweries have referred to Vienna Lager themselves. Though the records show that Mexican breweries did not originally use this term.   

The simple fact that Mexico has continually made pale, amber and dark beer is notable. This is different than some other beer cultures around the world. Certainly, compared to the United States, where large breweries do not have a notable production of beer beyond pale lager. It’s a great tradition and one that lends itself to enjoying beer in a variety of situations, whether it be knocking back a cold pale lager on a hot summer day, sipping an amber lager with a spicy taco, or chatting with friends over a dark lager by a fire on a cool night.

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Brewers, particularly in the US, need to keep in mind that if their Mexican Lager is not made in Mexico and/or is not made by people of Mexican descent, there must be more thought and intent given before releasing one. Think about where your marketing is directed. If it’s toward white people for Cinco de Mayo, you should reconsider.

Also, there’s no shame in making an American adjunct lager. It’s clearly part of the American brewing tradition, and it’s something to embrace. And you can do so without resorting to the use of cultural imagery and references that are not yours. 

Finally, think about channeling your energy toward supporting immigrants from Mexico and beyond.  

Notes

1 Cervecería Alemana is one potential exception to this claim. One Hundred Years of Brewing (1903) noted the brewery was run by Eduardo Suendermann, adding “this is probably the only lager beer brewery in Mexico not equipped with a refrigerating machine. Natural ice, from caves, is to be had almost beside the brewery and the cellars of this little plant are in these same caves.” I have found very little documentation on Alemana and its brewing methods.

2 Both editions of One Hundred Years of Brewing note the production by some of Sencilla. According to the book (1903), it is “brewed somewhat like a lager beer, but with less percentage of extract. It is fermented and put into cold storage, being sold at an average age of from four to six weeks, but often within half those periods. The smaller establishments put the sencilla into little casks, or kegs, directly after fermentation, and it is sometimes drunk the same day.”  

The lower level of extract meant a lower ABV. Dietsch noted this, referring to Sencilla as a kind of “Dünnbier”, or low-alcohol beer. The mention of cold storage brings another question to the claim that lager brewing was not possible.

3 It should be noted that in One Hundred Years of Brewing (1901) the following is stated regarding the establishment of the Toluca brewery, “in reality the wife of Mr. Graf was the founder of the Toluca brewery, who, together with a Mexican, Luis Mancera, made the first top-fermentation beer, while Mr. Graf was at that time the manager of an oil mill, in which position he accumulated the money with which he afterward went into the brewing business.” Of course, her name is not given, and there are no other accounts of this. This is not meant to suggest it’s not true, just that this is the only account I found. It wouldn’t be a surprise if people wanted to bury the fact that a white woman and a Mexican man started a brewery.

by Chloe Kain and Kevin Kain

If you’ve ever indicated you were under the legal drinking age when going to a website for a company that sells alcohol, you may have noticed how some pages redirect you elsewhere on the web. Recently, my daughter Chloe has taken an interest in exploring some of these redirects and we thought it would be fun to share some of our favorites. So, I’m very excited to have a co-authored post here. Please click on the brewery names or images below to go to their sites. Enjoy, and let us know some of your favorites not shown here.

Freak Folk Bier, Waterbury, VT

The redirect for Freak Folk Bier’s website takes you to Toys “R” Us, an old chain toy store that had shut down in the United States, but is now making a comeback.

Chloe says: We were very lucky because when we went on the website, we found out that Geoffrey, the store’s mascot, was celebrating his birthday. Geoffrey is a giraffe, and I like giraffes a lot. It’s good to celebrate giraffes because they’re an endangered species.

Kevin says: It’s nice to see Toys “R” Us making a comeback because it was a special place to me when I was a kid. I still remember being excited when my parents took me to the store in Yonkers, NY. It’s cool that Freak Folk is supporting an underdog. Yeah, it’s not a mom and pop, but it’s not Amazon.

Bonn Place Brewery, Bethlehem PA

Anyone who follows Bonn Place’s social media knows they like a good slice. So, it’s no surprise that their redirect takes you to a local pizzeria. In this case, it’s Lehigh Pizza in Bethlehem, PA.

Chloe says: I think it’s pretty cool because they’re like “okay, you can’t have the beer, but at least you can have pizza.” Pizza is life.

Kevin says: I like that they’re having fun, but also supporting a local business. To be honest, I also think it’s effective. If I have the good fortune to make it out to Bonn Place again, I’d definitely like to grab a slice from Lehigh Pizza.

Image source: Bonn Place Instagram page.

Donzoko Brewing Company, Leith, Scotland

Donzoko brings us to another country which has a different legal drinking age than we have in the US. Nonetheless, Chloe is still far from eighteen, so we’re getting redirected to a BBC children’s website called CBeebies.

Chloe says: It’s interesting because Cbeebies is like BBC backward. The website is very fun because there are a lot of games you can play. I think Donzoko just wants kids to have fun.

Kevin says: A lot of websites we came across took us to cartoons and similar kid-friendly sites. I like this one because being from the US, it exposed us to some new programs, but also some of our old favorites like Bluey.

Brouwerij West, San Pedro, CA

Brouwerij West makes use of the classic Rick Roll. You’ve seen it before. It’s been used by many others, but we can’t help but get a smile due to the smooth voice and little shimmy of Rick Astley.

Chloe says: I’m not sure if kids know who Rick Astley is, but I like that they decided to use this because the song is good and there’s great dancing in the video.

Kevin says: I’m sure the Rick Roll gets eye rolls at this point, but I still love it.

Jack’s Abby, Framingham, MA

Jack’s Abby uses an adorable clip from YouTube of a kitten, Pepper, playing with an ostrich egg. Maybe not a winner for all if you don’t like cats, but we do. This is the kind of video that made us both go “awwww.”

Chloe says: I love cats and it’s really funny because ostrich eggs are known for being hard to open and cats are just cats. I especially like when Pepper jumps.

Kevin says: I also like Pepper’s jumping around. Kittens are always going to win me over. However, what really makes this redirect shine for me is the dramatic music. The Benny Hill theme would’ve been good too. Either way, music exponentially enhances the enjoyment of this video.

Wayward Lane Brewing Company, Schoharie, NY

Though Chloe hasn’t really watched The Office before (she’s seen and loved the parkour intro), we were both amused when we saw a Michael Scott redirect on Wayward Lane’s page. In this clip, Michael Scott is expressing his intense frustration after discovering someone he hates has returned to work after previously moving overseas.

Chloe says: I think it’s funny when Mr. Scott is screaming because his eyes are practically popping out of their sockets at the end. I feel sad that I can’t get into the Wayward Lane website. I don’t care though, because I’ve actually been to Wayward Lane, and it’s fun because they have cornhole and chickens. Chickens are fun. So is cornhole.

Kevin says: Yeah, it’s a bummer to get turned away. Maybe not as upsetting as Michael Scott finding out Toby had returned to Dunder Mifflin, but it makes a point.

Kent Falls Brewing Company, Kent, CT

We’re not sure if there’s a background story to this, but we do know that Oprah would have these eventful gift giveaways on her show. In this instance, someone edited a video to make it look like she was unleashing a swarm of bees on her audience.

Chloe says: At first, I got scared, but it was funny when Oprah did that dance.

Kevin says: I have historically not cared for bees. Wasps, really. But anything closely related has always creeped me out. I’m coming around though. However, this video just cracks me up. I love how it depicts Oprah in a demonic way, and again, agree with Chloe that her dancing is hilarious.

Other Half Brewing, Brooklyn, NY

The video for this redirect was a new one for us, and we are both very grateful to Other Half for the introduction. It is our favorite on the list. However, we do have to deduct points because you must click on a bad word to get to the great video.

Chloe says: You on Kazoo has helped us laugh. A lot. My favorite part is when the kid says “special friends” in slow-mo. I also like the remix. I highly recommend it.

Kevin says: This video, and the remix, have been on regular rotation in our house, which has probably annoyed mommy a whole lot. But we can’t help it. We like to have fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!

Thanks for reading!! Chloe and Kevin

New York City’s Upper East Side (UES) is overlooked by beer snobs. For years, it has quietly been one of the city’s best beer neighborhoods. That is if you’re not just looking for the hype stuff.*

The UES showcases traditional and modern beer. It’s this mix that makes it shine. And the fact that the neighborhood is somewhat off the NYC beer radar helps create a laid-back, local, and more intimate community. This sentiment is echoed by Andrey Malinin, General Manager Jones Wood Foundry, who tells me “the scene on the UES seems to be much more of a neighborhood vibe.” It’s a great place to put the phone down and forget about checking in a rare Hazy IPA, and instead spend some time eating, drinking and socializing. Here are some places worth checking out.

The Traditional/Restaurants

Several notable restaurants reside in the UES that represent cultures with strong beer traditions. Most have a bar that you can simply go and drink at, but the food at all the places discussed below is excellent. Not surprisingly, the beer goes well with the dishes. Sit. Eat. Drink.

Heidelberg (1648 2nd Avenue)

The upper east corner of the Upper East Side once had a sizeable German population (in this area, 86th Street was referred to as “Sauerkraut Boulevard”). A remnant of that era is found at the iconic Heidelberg. The menu is traditional with standards like wursts, schnitzels and spätzle. Likewise for the beer. Though you can find the trendy Rothaus and popular Andechs (you can even get Berliner Weisse with syrup (mit Schuss), it’s primarily standards like Bitburger, Spaten and Hofbräu.

B.Cafe (240 E 75th Street)

You can get your moules frites and Trappist beer fix at B.Cafe. It’s a Belgian restaurant with all the classic Belgian beers. At one time, there was a pull-down map behind the bar. The bartender would show you where your beer was from and give you a little beer-geography lesson. Sadly, the map has been removed, but the food and beer are still excellent. As with most Belgian bars/restaurants, nearly every beer will be served in a corresponding branded glass. Aside from the classics, a few other not as expected beers include Poperings Hommelbier, Duchesse De Bourgogne, and Hoegaarden served with a splash of frambois.

Bottles and glassware on display at B. Cafe.

A super refreshing glass of Hoegaarden with a splash of framboise at B. Cafe.

Jones Wood Foundry (401 E 76th Street)

The English-style pub the Jones Wood Foundry is one of the few places in New York, heck, in the United States, where you can enjoy a properly served pint of cask ale. That has been made possible, in part, by the select few brewers located in the northeast that have been able to supply good real ale. Their packaged and standard draft beer selection has historically been comprised of the usual suspects (e.g. Fuller’s, Old Speckled Hen, Boddington’s), but that has been expanding. Though I’m not particular, you will mostly find cask ale served without a sparkler here. If you don’t know what that means, click here.

Beyond the bar, the design of the Jones Wood Foundry is pretty cool with little spaces tucked away here and there. And you can find classics like bangers and mash, fish and chips and Scotch eggs.

A pint of traditional English IPA being pulled from a hand pump at the Jones Wood Foundry.

Bohemian Spirit (321 E 73rd Street)

Speaking of great spaces, there’s an abundance of brewerania on display at Bohemian Spirit, a Czech restaurant located within the Czech Republic’s consulate building. Again, standards. Goulash, utopenec, and schnitzel. The beer is also very standard. And very limited. But that’s fine because when you’re here, you don’t really need more than a perfectly poured mug of Pilsner Urquell from a Lukr faucet.

And yeah, they’ve heard of that milk pour all the cool kids talk about, and they’ll pour it for you, but it’s not really a thing here. FWIW, the prior restaurant in this location, Hospoda, was serving Czech lager from Lukr faucets, boasting different pours, way before it was cool.  

A Pilsner Urquell poster at Bohemian Spirit.

A pint of Pilsner Urquell, poured from a Lukr faucet, into a Pilsner Urquell glass and served on a traditional ceramic coaster at Bohemian Spirit.

Some brewerania on display at Bohemian Spirit.

Cafe D’Alsace (1703 2nd Avenue)

Cafe D’Alsace serves excellent brasserie fare, which you may not associate with beer culture. However, they have one of the most impressive beer menus in the city. The restaurant name might imply a German influence, but their beer leans heavily on Belgian/Belgian-style beers and includes one hundred different bottles and cans and a handful of draft selections. You’ll find a lot of the usual Belgian brews, and some more coveted one like Blaugies, Fantome, and 3 Fonteinen. Closer to home there are Belgian-inspired breweries like Allagash and Jester King. It’s not just Belgian-style beer though. You might find Kölsch on tap, a local IPA like Other Half, and others. On my last visit, I paired duck and Riesling-braised sauerkraut with a couple of hoppy saisons by Brasserie Thieriez.

A hoppy saison by Brasserie Thiriez at Cafe D’Alsace.

Schaller & Weber Stube (1652 2nd Avenue)

Though not a real beer destination, the Schaller & Weber Stube is worthy of mention. Situated between the sausage maker’s historic retail location and Heidelberg (see above), this “stube” takes some of Schaller & Weber’s excellent sausages and creates delicious sandwiches. There are always a couple of excellent beers on offer. It’s small and doesn’t have a big beer menu, but if you are craving a fantastic bratwurst and a German beer, this place is a big win. If you’re not a traditionalist, they’ve got options like a buffalo chicken brat.

The traditonal bratwurst served on a pretzel bun at Schaller and Weber Stube.

Irish pubs – The Irish pubs in the UES are worth mentioning. Generally, they’re nothing to write home about, but they’re numerous and embedded in the neighborhood’s culture. If you’re looking for a spot to eat wings and watch a game with a cold one, it’s hard to walk a couple of blocks in this neighborhood without finding an Irish pub to scratch that itch.

One worthy of mention is Ryan’s Daughter at 350 E 85th Street. It’s a beautiful bar and you’ll get a properly served pint there. Dan McLaughlin of the Pony Bar says it has the best Guinness on the Upper East Side.

A perfectly poured pint of Guinness at Ryan’s Daughter.

Contemporary Bars/Pubs

The Pony Bar (1444 1st Avenue)

Pony Bar owner Dan McLaughlin says the neighborhood has come a long way since they opened in 2012. Several people in the industry did not think it was a wise decision to open a beer bar here. Places selling craft beer were limited, and the ones that did had few offerings.  

Ten years later, the Pony Bar is an institution. It’s kinda the perfect New York beer bar. A place for everyone with a warm and welcoming vibe and excellent pub food.

While there’s a great selection of beer, Dan tries to keep the menu accessible. He sees the Pony Bar as a neighborhood pub, recognizing the predominantly residential character of the area. The menu isn’t meant to draw in outsiders, but the welcoming atmosphere is undoubtedly luring.  

You can’t see the sun set from the Upper East Side real good, but you won’t care when you’re having a good time at The Pony Bar.

I love this glass at The Pony Bar.

The Jeffrey (311 East 60th Street)

The Jeffrey speaks to the local sentiment with the message “The Neighborhood Joint” on their website. It’s one of a few establishments under the Beerly Legal Group in NYC. Others include Fool’s Gold, a pub on Houston Street, and Alewife, originally a bar in Long Island City and now a brewery in Sunnyside.  

In addition to a regularly rotating lineup of great beer, The Jeffrey also has excellent cocktails and food. It’s also located near the Roosevelt Island Tramway. I think it’s worth the swipes of your MetroCard for the quick ride over the East River and back if you’ve never done it before.

Treadwell Park (1125 1st Avenue)

Treadwell Park is a sleek and spacious (for Manhattan, at least) beer hall. You can count on a diverse, well-curated beer menu. It’s not excessive, which hopefully means there’s good turnover. The food menu teeters towards elevated pub food. This includes Junior’s Cheesecake on the dessert menu, with house-made Lindeman’s framboise Lambic compote.

Bondurants (303 E 85th Street)

Bondurants is a great neighborhood bar that serves great craft beer. The cozy space has an excellent food menu if you’re hungry, and a notable whiskey menu.

Stores/bars

City Swiggers (320 East 86th Street)

Several beer shops have come and gone over the years in the Upper East Side. Open since 2011, City Swiggers has proven to be enduring. Like many of the other craft beer shops in New York City, City Swiggers allows on-site consumption. The selection is diverse. They’ve got all the hip stuff, but there’s also a great selection of imported traditional styles. You’ll find stuff here that you won’t find in anywhere else in the city. The space (including an excellent collection of glassware on the walls) and atmosphere are welcoming for shopping, drinking, or both. It’s no surprise it has become a lasting staple for the neighborhood.

A small portion of the imported beer selection a City Swiggers. What would you grab?

Craft + Carry (1630 2nd Avenue)

Craft + Carry currently has eight locations in New York City. I appreciate their message on the website, which states “Craft beer fans, not snobs.” The retail/bar hybrid keeps an interesting beer selection, but it’s not a place that gets too particular about details that may be off-putting to general patrons. The sizeable location is accommodating if you’re looking to have a few drinks with friends, or if you’re just grabbing some beer on the go. And it has skeeball.

Craft + Carry’s Upper East Side shop is one of several locations around the city.

*I stuck with the traditional boundaries of the Upper East Side. However, there are several notable beer spots in Harlem, north of 96th Street. Perhaps that’s for a future post.

In response to keg-standing partygoers and dishwashing averse party hosts around the globe, Robert Leo Hulseman invented the Solo Becher, or Solo cup, in the 1970s. This iconic beer cup has permeated discerning beer cultures around the world ever since.

The cup is perfectly designed to receive the inevitable amount of excessive foam that emanates from a finely jostled keg after being rolled from a high schooler’s car to a backyard. This led to the creation of the Instragram-friendly slow pour. Beer geeks love a good faucet, and to achieve this foam, the Solo cup works best with a party pump faucet.

Unbeknownst to many, Solo cups include lines to delineate the varying pour styles, which are particularly fashionable in craft beer circles these days. Starting from the top is the foam pour. Moving down next is the kinda foamy pour. Next is the “I heard if you dip your finger in there with nose grease or ear wax, the foam will go away” pour. Finally, there’s the “bro, it’s all foam! Pump the keg some more” pour.

These lines were inspired by older drinking glasses that had lines for varying purposes, one of them being drinking games. The Solo cup lends itself well to a variety of these, including flip cup and beer pong. Happy April Fool’s Day. Rabbit Rabbit.