If you ask someone to name a drink from Mexico, they’re going to say tequila nine times out of ten.
Tequila is Mexico’s most famous export, but it’s not the biggest. Not by a long shot!
That title goes to beer. 🍻
Mexico exports more beer than any other country in the world.
Annually, 300 billion liters are shipped around the world, but mostly to the US and Canada. (Compared to tequila’s 300 million liters.)
This is already a staggering amount of beer, but the category is projected to grow by +30% over the next ten years, even with the threat of looming tariffs.
It’s a huge business, and it’s dominated by brands like Corona, Modelo, Tecate, Victoria… and, well, I could keep listing brands, but all the ones you’ve heard of are owned by the same people.
That’s right: The top ten beer brands in Mexico are owned by just two international conglomerates. And those two businesses control 90% of the market.
Which begs the question… where’s all the Mexican craft beer?
Mexican Craft Beer 🍻
This week, we’re going back to Querétaro to answer that question at my favorite craft brewery.
Cervecera Hercules makes classic, “beer-flavored beer,” plus some “wild” stuff that we’ll talk more about in the episode. 👀
Tune in to hear about:
- Why it’s so hard to make craft beer in Mexico, and why people are doing it anyway
- What people mean when they call something a “Mexican lager”
- How one family turned the biggest textile factory in Latin America into a brewery with the most beautiful beer garden I’ve ever seen
- And why beer is responsible for all of human civilization (seriously)
