The Sunday Stat attack no. 23 – Mexico (27th March 2022)

Next up on @blackhaddock’s list is the 10th most populous country in the world.

Based on the news, you’d think Mexico was run by drug cartels, with the main industries being drug trafficking, kidnapping, dinosaur extinction and besieging the US border. You see less mention of some of the positives – it has the 5th most biodiversity of any country, the 7th most world heritage sites, and is home to the world’s largest pyramid (by volume).

Fortunately most people see the good side of the country rather than the bad, as apparently Mexico has the 6th highest number of tourists of any nation. The most popular tourist draws are the beach resorts (such as Cancún), the archaeological remains from the Aztec and Mayan civilizations, and of course “goin’ loco down in Acapulco” (whatever that means?).

Mexico is also famous for its chilli-based cuisine – although realistically what we generally think of as Mexican food is an American derivation of the real thing. Tequila is also a big deal here, with or without worms in the bottle.

Beerwise, Mexico is dominated by pale lager – two lager breweries account for 90% of the local market, and Corona, Sol and Modelo have become some of the biggest-selling beers globally. However, there has been notable growth in craft beer in recent years and there are now an impressive 651 breweries (and 12 meaderies and 19 cideries) on Ratebeer. The top Mexican brews on Ratebeer are:

Insurgente Xocoveza
Fauna Nox Arcana
Cucapá Barley Wine (Centenario)

The top raters of Mexican beers are @solidfunk, @Nekronos and @Sdaniel90. If you want to join them in the Mexican top 50, you’ll need just 51 ratings. @Nekronos and @Sdaniel90 are also our top raters from Mexico, although sadly @Sdaniel90 doesn’t seem to have rated anything for a couple of years.

So… what are your Mexican stats and stories?

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11 rates from Mexico, have never been

My top rated is Ocho Reales Porter 3.5, which is Gluten Free as well (5 of my Mexico rates are from Ocho Reales)

I’ve never had a cider form Mexico, and rather surprisingly (to me anyway) there are 19 active Mexico cideries, with 3 equal on 5 entries: Rey Imperial
& Sidra Azteca y Nuria from Huejotzingo and Valle Redondo from Naucalpan De Juárez

The top 5 raters for Mexico ciders and cideries are:

MexicoCider Ratings

MexicoCideries

Really need to seek out a Mexican cider somehow!

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I’ve been to Mexico three times (only for a day with cruise ships); loved Puerto Vallarta, didn’t like Acapulco (the cliff divers were good though) and I can’t even remember the name of the fake beach resort we moored at on our first visit, it began with an H. I managed one place review on those trips: https://www.ratebeer.com/p/los-muertos-brewing/36603/

My 51 Mexican rates come from those three visits and Southern California, where there are plenty of Mexican beers to be found (plus some from a Mexican importer in London). I am currently sat at 49th on the countries leader board, I’ve had to rate some Chelada’s to reach that total though. A Chelada is basically a Mexican Pale Lager mixed with Tomato Juice (and often other ‘stuff’ like Lime, Salt and Chili). Here is a review of my first one:
My first ever Mexican Beer Cocktail. 710ml can all to myself, lucky me! Drank on 22nd December 2021 in Laguna Hills, California; at my daughters. No one else fancied helping me drink it, so it was poured (twice) into a Weissbier glass. Tomato red in colour, misty/cloudy body, no head worthy of the name. Aroma and taste is of tomato’s, lightly salted, didn’t pick up on the lime bit mentioned on the can. It went OK with the Pulled-Pork Taco’s, Hot Sauce, Guacamole, Salsa and ‘stuff’, however the French Rosé Wine the others had looked more fun! It is what it is, a Mexican Lager mixed with Tomato Juice. I’m not going to rush out and buy as many different ones as I can, but I will most likely pick another now and again, just for shits and giggles.

MY TOP BEERS

Going to Mexico for a day again in December. Hope to improve on my 15 different breweries and only 7 of the 32 Regions.

<*))))))><

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My #21 most rated country with 15 ratings. #57 by average score

The only countries I have visited with fewer ratings than that were all on the same cruise as the Mexico stop! (Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Bahamas)

My top rated beer is Casta Unica, rated forever ago at a Ratebeer Christmas Party at Oakes’ in 2004.

Several picked up at a gift shop while visiting the ruins at Tulum. For one bottle the guy selling them opened it before handing it to me and I was like “Uhh. I actually didn’t want it open…” So he screwed the cap back on and he handed it to me! Mabel and I just looked at each other and thought “I guess we are drinking this on the bus!” lol

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I only have 13 rates most cheap lager however did manage to have 7 regions. The best brew was Hércules Calmécac which was a nice Imp Stout.

I’ve only been to Mexico once for a day. Prior to join RB. So plenty left to see and several areas I’m keen to explore.

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A paltry 9 ratings from 4 regions for me this time. Never been, though I had an opportunity to go down on a day trip from a hostel I was staying at in Hollywood back in 2002. Don’t know why I didn’t go.

Top ten:

My Rating Avg Entered Updated
Cucapá Obscura 3.9 3.03 12/2/2018
Mexicana Day of the Dead Beer Hop On or Die 3.7 3.04 7/13/2014
Propaganda 750 3.6 3.26 7/10/2018
Mexicana Day of the Dead Beer Pay The Ferryman 3.5 3.15 8/29/2014
Mexicana Red Pig 3.2 2.75 1/19/2014

Seem to remember those Mexicana day of the dead beers were everywhere back in 2014-2015, think they might be still about. They’re responsible for 5 of my Mexican ticks. Definitely a country that takes some digging to find ticks from.

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a whopping 13 Mexican beers, all in UK (never noticed any in USA, though I tend to focus on draught). Dia de los Muertes did the rounds a few years ago, and found a box online with Loba and Propaganda early on in lockdown, all pretty meh at best. Mexico is on my list to visit, but not top of the list so may be a while

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Just the 1 Mexico rate for me, a nice enough brown ale I had in February in London - but only rated today, this post prompting me to do so! I’ve never been and I’m afraid my view has always followed the popular media’s usual portryal of a lawless place, and it’s not been on my wishlist (Sicario springs to mind). My non-RB experience with its beers are the usual suspects - Dos Equis, Corona, Modelo, Pacifico - so none of the peak options!

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2 beers reviewed. One pretty dire - Modelo Negra; the other pretty decent - Mexicana Day of the Dead Beer Death Becomes You. More bizarrely, I found the decent one at a Wetherspoons.
My eldest has married a delightful Mexican woman so I have a standing invitation to visit a country, of which it was famously said: “Poor Mexico! So close to the United States and yet so far from God!” Not sure about the latter part but the first part plays a big role in the drug wars and other problems. It’s also huge which you don’t appreciate on the standard Mercator global projection. My in-laws are in Mexico City so looking forward to sampling a little of its many cultural treasures and opting for craft beer over mestique.

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I am actually tied with a bunch others for that pivotal 5th place(1 rating) position. It is one of my worst experiences & will leave that there. It counts! :stuck_out_tongue:

There was also this craft brewery that brewed Belgian styles, corked & caged that I seem to never have rated but had lots from. They went out of business at least 10yrs ago sadly.

ISO: Mexican cider & mead.

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As the current king of Mexico a few thoughts: one is that Tijuana and surrounding are in Baja state is basically the San Diego of Mexican craft, with the old school breweries like Wendlandt, Border Psycho and such being the kind of stone, Alesmith and Sierra Nevada of Mexican craft. Fitting since Tijuana and San Diego are the same city with a border slashed through them. But Mexico City is coming along in great ways, and it seems like Guadalajara is too. Queretaro has a bunch of breweries and many smaller towns as well especially around the capital–good places to clean up ticks include Puebla and Cholula. Day tripable from Mexico City. For the most part, like many up and coming countries in Latin America, RB will tell you virtually nothing about what’s good and hot in the beer scene. I add nearly everything every time I go. But the good news is there is lots of good stuff happening.

One great Mexican beer story is when I went down to get a tooth crowned on a 4 day trip from work. Dentist in DC quoted me $3 stacks. Flew down to Cancun and got it done on fly for $1.1K including some cavity fills and a cleaning. And that was expensive, recently got another crown quote for about $500 in CDMX.

Anyway, the beer story is that later the day I got the tooth grinded down and measured for the crown mould, they told me not to drink. I heard about a beer festival in nearby Puerta Aventuras and bought a ticket. Next day, gauze freshly spitted from mouth and $20 ticket in hand, I tried lime 45 craft beers from all over Mexico in a few hours all inclusive like I was a lazy tourist. Got regions that nearly nobody has, and it was right by the beach. I started to get super drunk and just stripped to my boxers and jumped in the ocean. Dried off for a few then rocked a few more of deez tickz. Then of all people to run into, I came across the secretary of the dentist! She scolded me for drinking when I was supposed to wait a few days due to antibiotics, haha. Caught a late night bus back to my flea-bitten hostel later that night.

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More recent story is having bought a bunch of ticks to share with DC crew. Then the day before I left tested positive for covid. Holed up in hotel room for five days with like 20 ticks and passed @Nekronos as king. Tested negative on fifth day and made it back home without one bottle on hand. Just as well because I copped a cheap flight via Skip Lag–the greatest thing to happen to travel since the camel caravan.

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I have not visited Mexico and I guess I will never do so. But, who knows? Well, maybe the Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico” was more than enought for me :thinking: Beers? Not easy to find interesting beers from Mexico in Norway or elsewhere in Europe (?) I have tried 11 beers, most of them from Grupo Modelo and Femsa. None worth trying twice.

I’ve never visited Mexico, and have no particular plans to do so ever - so obviously no place ratings.

I’ve had 6 Mexican beers from 3 brewers in 3 different regions. Sadly they’re mainly macro trash, meaning that Mexico is my lowest-rated country (3 or more ratings) with an abyssmal average score of 1.62.

My best (or possibly least worst) rated beer was Mexicana Red Pig, scoring a still-meagre 2.6. However, there are two Mexican beers (Sol and Modelo Especial) in my bottom 15 beers, scoring just 0.9 apiece.

Really not a good performance, Mexico!

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Mexico is my 26th most rated country with 212 ratings (from 89 breweries), average of 2.84.

Have visited twice, both times for work in Mexico City. Prior to travelling Mexico had my lowest average of any country, as the beers that has exported from Mexico at the point were total crap.

The craft scene in Mexico City is actually really good with a huge amount of breweries, plenty of good bars and interesting peple. Also the city as such really plesant. I am hoping to return both to the capital and to be able to travel elsewhere in this big country.

My highest rated beers are:

Dos Aves Parvada 4.4 3.23 9/4/2019
Escollo Porter 4.1 3.02 5/15/2013
Alebrije Llorona Imperial Stout 4.1 2.99 5/23/2013
Dos Aves IPA 4.1 3.17 9/9/2019
Cosaco Roja 4 3.34 5/23/2013
Calavera Mexican Imperial Stout 4 3.49 5/30/2013
Principia Doble Cuásar 4 3.21 9/7/2019
Justicia Divina Coffee Stout 4 3.25 9/8/2019

Still miss half the regions (making a trip more or less compulsory). My most rated regions are:

Mexican Regions (16/32) Average Count
Mexico City 2.62 67
Baja California 3.17 32
Nuevo León 2.55 27

The highest rated breweries with 5+ ratings:

Cervecería Cucapá Baja California 6 3.52
Cervecería Principia Nuevo León 6 3.37
Cerveceria Minerva Jalisco 7 3.13
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Just the three Mexican rates for me, from 3 regions. Mostly sourced from Beers of Europe iirc

image

Maybe I’ll get there on a cruise one day!

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The closest I’ve ever been to Mexico is in San Diego in 2002, when pretty much the whole hostel went to Tijuana for the night. I refused to go as I didn’t want that experience to be my first of the country.

My sister & brother in law have been a couple of times to see family in Baja, treaking all over place to get me a handful of bottles. Still in total I’ve only 11 ratings, 2.92 average, my 30th most rated country & coming from 5 regions. Mexico City & Nuevo Leon have 4 each.

Modelo Negra is surprisingly top rated beer with 3.5
Mexicana Day of the Dead Beer Pay the Ferryman & Finisima both have 3.4

One day I’ll definitely make it over, especially as the beer scene sounds like it’s taken off.

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Mexico is yet another country that I visited in my pre-RB days (very pre-RB actually, I think it was the mid-80s) but not since. Even still, between crap lagers and the odd ‘craft’ offering I’ve managed to amass 17 rates. There was a special on Facebook where someone was selling 10 Mexican beers for something like £28 and I took advantage of this (even though a had tried a few before).

Mostly I haven’t been impressed with the Mexican beer I have had. On 3.7 and a few 3.3s at the top:

It does seem like the scene in Mexico is getting better, I just hope some of the better offerings make it over here.

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After half a day wandering around the tourist city of Ensenada (think America and Canada meets Mexico) (cruise ship port area) and being politely asked into every single ‘tat’ shop there is I managed to pick up 6 bottles of local beer, three of which were really good.

I am now equal 37th on the Mexican list, with 60 actual rates. Anyone wanting to get onto the leader board for Mexico just has to spend an afternoon in Tijuana and visit a few brewpubs to overtake me and everyone else.

<*))))))><

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Ha, now equal 36th in Mexico, with two more in my stash, I will share with @minutemat to help him with his ‘regions’ scores.

I will become 35th highest rater of Mexican beers after our beer share, no movement on the ‘Regions List’ for me though (apart from a new Polish one @minutemat has for me).

<*))))))><

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