The Craft Beer Boom Across the Border

Once upon a time in Mexico, beer options were limited to the big breweries: Modelo and Cuahtemoc. Despite slight variations in color, Mexican beers like Indio, Sol, Tecate, León, Victoria, and Corona taste pretty much the same. They’re simple, drinkable beers that cost you about $1.50 and are available everywhere.

Then, a little over 15 years ago, pockets of home brewers started to pop up in Tijuana, Guadalajara, and Mexico City like patches of  wildflowers. Fast forward to 2013; business is booming! That handful of home brewers, testing out their creations on unsuspecting friends at backyard barbeques, have turned their hobby into established breweries, producing toasty brown ales, hoppy IPAs, and creamy, complex stouts.

In 2007, brother and sister team Alejandra and Andrés Cruz wanted to take a gamble on beer. Urged on by their chemical engineering parents and bouyed by rave reviews from friends, they launched the Cervecería Pública Condesa and bottled their first brew, Poe – a nutty brown ale with hints of coffee, chocolate, and caramel –  in 2009.

Their story is typical of the first generation of Mexican craft brewers. They were inspired by what they tried abroad and purchased their first kit from foreign brewers who passed on lots of tips and advice.

“Our brewery is called Cervecería Pública Condesa because we wanted to honor our neighborhood … and because some of our favorite places while traveling were public libraries. You find lots of different kinds of people from all over, it’s super democratic and we thought that eventually that’s what we wanted – to create a different beer for every kind of personality,” Andrés said.

The democracy of beer came up in more than one conversation I had with beer makers.

Rodrigo Hernández of the Big Bad Brewing Company used to be in the wine business in Baja California. He describes a kind of elitism within the wine-drinking community and when he switched to beer making he appreciated the openness of the drinkers and brewers.

“We can all afford to buy a beer,” he said, “and we’re all friends. We help each other out and are honest with our critiques.”

The Tres B, as his company is called in Spanish, is part of a close-knit group of craft beer breweries in Mexicali and across Baja California. They produce seven styles of beer  including their most popular –  Strong Ale and Hefeweizen – all of which they are working to distribute throughout the country.

Although Mexico City is their biggest market by volume, Hernández explained that regional beer culture in Baja is one of the strongest in the country.

Next, a look at the emerging beer market in Ensenada… 

Ensenada is the Baja hotspot that the whole Mexican craft beer movement is talking about. Capitalizing on the buzz of the nearby wine producing region of Valle de Guadalupe, and the culinary wattage of local chefs, Nathaniel Schmidt, founder and brew master of Agua Mala, is making some noise of his own. A devoted foodie who sells almost exclusively to restaurants, Schmidt takes the pairing of food and brew very seriously. He has even partnered with Baja chefs to create unique brews that pair well with their menus.

“For mole,” Schmidt explained, “I would choose the Marea Roja which is an amber ale. I like its malty-ness and the way it balances out. With cochinita pibil, I would go with a Marea Roja. Although depending on the cochinita it might be better to try a pale ale, something light, that’s a little hoppy, like the Astillero – it would cut through some of the greasiness. I love my chiles rellenos with a Sirena, which is a pilsner. I like the way it comes together with the cheese and a little bit of the tomato sauce.”

Thirsty yet? Schmidt and his wife started home brewing in 2006 and their business has taken off. In Baja, it seems everyone is excited about (and serves) their beers.

Most of the brewers I talked to had recently attended Cerveza México, an annual brewfest in Mexico City which brings together brewers from all over the country to taste, critique, and market their products. It’s also a way for brewers to get their beers to a wider audience, which is easier said than done.

The big beer companies have not made it easy on the little guys. Years of a commercial monopoly, along with what some consider underhanded tactics, have made it difficult for craft brewers to get into the bars and shops dominated by Modelo and Cuahtemoc.

Craft beer still accounts for less than one percent of the overall market but most of the brewers said they were maxed out production-wise and are thinking about expanding, while at the same time great new breweries like Albur in Monterrey continue to come onto the scene.

“(Brewers) continue to pop up in various cities, and (the movement) keeps growing. We saw that in Cerveza México 2013,” said Gustavo González, founder of Cosaco brewery. “I think it’s a matter of who will consolidate, who won’t make it, and who will show up much more prepared, with more information, and maybe with more advanced ideas that will break the overall scheme from what it is now, because there are a lot of things going on but still a lot of things missing, styles that still need to be produced.”

González started home brewing in 1995 and launched his brand in 2000. We chatted over a tangy red ale at the Toscano Café in Mexico city, one of the many restaurants and bars where you can find Cosaco’s exclusively draft beers – Negra, Roja, Güero, and their Temporada beers – one for each season of the year.

If you want to try some Baja beers while living in Mexico City or beers from smaller cities in central Mexico, finding them can be tricky. Stores like The Beer Company, La Belga, El Depósito, El Bebián, and Cervezarte have good craft beer selections and some of the mid-size breweries like Minerva, Tempus and Calavera, can even be found in some small convenience stores in Mexico. All signs that the movement is on its way and that makes residents on both sides of the border – including this one – pretty excited.