Cinco de Mayo will be celebrated in the United States this year with a Mexican beer – for the first time – atop the leaderboard of American favorites.
Modelo Especial, brewed in Mexico since 1925, surpassed Bud Light last year to become the top-selling beer in the U.S.
It was a transformational moment in an industry long dominated by local and domestic beer brands.
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“It’s shocking,” Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights, told Fox News Digital. “It was really a dramatic shift that happened last year.”
Bud Light’s marketing debacle connected to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney caused the brand to implode.
Modelo serves beer to patrons during the Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival in 2018. (Kris Connor/Getty Images for NYCWFF)
The resulting national boycott and big-business catastrophe was reported first by FOX Business in April 2023.
But, Steinman noted, it “only accelerated a trend that was already underway and just took off and went into orbit in 2023.”
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“We’ve planned on becoming the No. 1 beer in America over the next couple of years; it just happened quicker than we anticipated,” Jim Sabia of Constellation Brands, which sells Modelo and other Mexican beers in the United States, said in a 2023 media interview.
Beer industry insider Bump Williams, of Bump Williams Consulting in Connecticut, cited a long list of savvy business and marketing moves that lifted Mexican beer from a newcomer in the U.S. in the 1980s to a dominant force today.
Kenny Chesney performs live at Kenny Chesney’s Flora-Bama-Jama, a free beachplay for 40,000 on the Florida/Alabama line, behind the historic Flora-Bama on Aug. 16, 2014, in Orange Beach, Alabama. (Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Kenny Chesney)
Topping the list?
“Brilliant and memorable marketing and advertising that addressed the core consumer with an iconic and consistent message,” said Williams.
The breezy beach vibe, and the clever idea that Mexican beers were served with lime — among many other factors — tapped into beer’s most basic appeal: It represents good times and good vibes.
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The Mexican beer groove even helped launch a subculture of country music.
Performers such as Kenny Chesney and the Zac Brown Band have cranked out hit after hit romanticizing palm trees and breezy beach views with cold beer with lime.
Modelo Especial became the No. 1 beer in the United States, among all domestic or import brands, in 2023. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Here are the five most popular Mexican beers in the United States today.
1. Modelo Especial
“A model of what good beer should be,” raves BeerAdvocate.com. “This rich, full-flavored Pilsner-style lager delivers a crisp, refreshing taste.”
2. Corona Extra
“Astoundingly popular because of its approachable and crisp flavor profile,” Jonah Flicker wrote in 2022 for Liquor.com.
3. Pacifico
“The smoothest, crispest, best tasting Mex lager on the market hands down,” claims a brew enthusiast on Reddit/beer.
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4. Dos Equis Lager
“A liquid embodiment of living life to the fullest,” Untapped.com enthused, calling it “a lager that drinks like a pilsner.”
Corona Extra, which arrived in the United States from Mexico in 1981, popularized the idea of drinking Mexican beer with lime. (Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
5. Corona Familiar
“I was very impressed!” a Reddit/beer reviewer exclaimed, adding that “it tastes like a light Vienna lager … while having a higher ABV (alcohol by volume) than Corona Extra.”
Modelo Especiai and Dos Equis rank No. 1 and No 5, respectively, among all domestic or imported beer brands in the United States.
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Kerry J. Byrne is a lifestyle reporter with Fox News Digital.
