(if you’re reading this in real-time, I posted the day’s writing before this one, with a couple photos)

The last couple trips we mostly ate in, cooked for ourselves or were cooked for. This trip we ate out every day, most often twice a day, so I got a lot more opportunities to try different beers, and every restaurant had a good selection of different brands.

The unfortunate part, is that the craft beer scene in and around Playa Del Carmen doesn’t appear to be thriving. There were a handful of local beers, but for the most part it’s a steady stream of labels you would recognize from your local liquor store.

The further unfortunate part, is that it appears that although there are lots and lots of different beers and beer companies, there are actually only 2 companies that own them all. It feels somewhat stagnant, but the fact that I had a couple craft brews in tourist areas brings hope.

The good part is that there are lots of different beers, even if they are all from large-scale breweries and even if they are similar in style, they compare well to each other. It may feel like a Sol and a Corona and a Dos Equis are identical, but there are subtle differences that are easier to find when you drink new ones each day.

To the beers!

TL;DR

You should really read it, I think it’s fascinating.

But if you’re looking for a quick ordered list of what beer to order in Mexico, here’s my opinion:

1. Cucupa Amber Ale – I love craft beer, this ones an easy top of the list. I wish I’d been able to try more of theirs!
2. Dos Equis Ambar – It’s been two weeks since I drank this, but I thought it was pretty damn good. Sweet and delicious.
3. Bohemia Vienna – A darker sweeter beer
4. Bohemia Pilsner – A pilsner that doesn’t taste like Heineken. I’m sick of Heineken and I think it’s been 15 years since I had one.
5. Tecate – Sweet and tasty.
6. Indio – Basically the same beer as Tecate, but less available.
7. Tecate Light – A totally different beer from the Tecate, it’s light and crisp. If you’re looking for low-alcohol, go with this one.
8. Dos Equis Lager – After this trip, Dos Equis moved up my list quite a bit.
9. Modelo Especial – Crisp and easy to like.
10. **** I did not really like anything below this line ****
11. Sol – Kind of like a Corona, but less skunky.
12. Barrilito – A super light beer that had no flavour. I enjoyed it’s experience, drinking on a shuttle bus, rather than it.
13. Negro Modelo – A dark beer that just didn’t grip me. Tasted like someone had added “dark flavour” to a beer.
14. Pescadore Blonde Ale – Loving craft beer, I wish I’d tried other Pescadore brews to give them a chance, but I couldn’t find any other than this and the IPA.
15. Montejo – I didn’t write any notes, or find any reason to drink it again to take any notes. Thoroughly uninspiring.
16. Victoria – Kind of like a Heineken. Do not like.
17. Corona – Corona is the absolute worst beer I drank this trip.

Your most common options are going to be Sol, Corona, Dos Equis. If this is true, have the Dos Equis. After that, both Bohemia’s and Tecate Light are somewhat common, I’d probably pick one of the Bohemia’s in that list, both are good and are actual options between dark and light beer that you might not have in other places.

Barrilito

Untappd. 3.4% lager. I drank this in the shuttle bus from the airport to our condo, as offered by our shuttle bus driver. It had been a long day, and I was grateful for a drink and this was that.

However, aside from the time and place, this beer doesn’t have much to recommend it. If you truly stop and savour the flavour, you find… it has none. It was utterly without any taste, and was merely a vehicle for cold non-water liquid entering you. Might not drink again, unless for a purpose. Someone on Untappd said it made a good morning beer, for example.

Tecate

Untappd. I had this one twice, because at the start of the Mexico beer adventure, I forgot to write about it. It’s 4.5% and in the restaurant it came with a lime, which I drank it with.

I picked up a can from 7-11, wanting to give it another try after forgetting my notes. Not really the same beer as Corona/Sol, it’s maltier and sweeter. I wasn’t really feeling like drinking when I had the can, so I don’t think I gave it a really fair shake to start. I let the can sit (which some people think is a travesty, I’m ok with it) and came back to it a little later and it grew on me more.

It’s virtually the same beer as Indio, but easier to find. However, most places that serve Tecate, serve the Tecate Light which is a totally different beer!

Tecate Light

Untappd. 3.9%, and Untappd says 7 IBUs which I totally believe. Crisp and cold, not a lot of flavour, but nothing bad either. No weird aftertaste, or weird taste like a Corona or Sol. Would drink again, but likely not compared to other options. This one is comparable to the Barrilito, but the Tecate Light is available at restaurants and feels slightly tastier. I avoided it for a while because I’d had the Tecate, but they are totally different beers that they are worth discussing separately. The Tecate is sweeter and maltier, where the Light is crisp and doesn’t have a lot of flavour to it.

Tecate Light Michelada

I was at a restaurant where I’d tried every beer they were serving, and didn’t want to repeat so I did a michelada of Tecate Light.

A michelada is where they take worcestershire sauce, some spices and maybe some tomato juice, toss some salt on the glass rim, and call it a beer cocktail. It’s not my favourite preparation, but it is an interesting drink and worth drinking.

In this case, it added a lot more umph to a very light tasting beer. Basically you’re enjoying the spices, and the beer is a liquid vehicle for them.

Cucupa

Untappd. Brewery on Untappd. Brewery. The first craft beer I had in Mexico was found at Zitla, an exceedingly highly rated restaurant about 6 blocks from our condo.

It’s a 4.5%, 17 IBU, very round, and sweet amber ale. Untappd says it’s a red ale, and I don’t usually like reds because they tend towards highly hopped beers that are “red” because they remind people of “copper”, which isn’t my thing.

This is a great beer, and I would definitely drink again. Unfortunately, I was unable to find other Cucapa’s nearby, because it looks like they have a great selection!

Dos Equis Ambar

Untappd. 4.7%, a crisp lager, but more flavorful, as you would hope an amber would be. Sweet, but not as sweet as the Cucapa. This is a really good blend, and I would drink it again. After drinking this, I decided to prioritize having a Dos Equis. I’m not even sure if we have the Ambar in Vancouver, but if we do, I should drink it there! This is a great beer!

Montejo

Untappd. 4.5%. I didn’t write any notes on this one! I didn’t end up seeking it out to try again, and while I’m sad my list isn’t complete, I’m pretty sure this was a wildly uninspiring beer.

Dos Equis Lager

Untappd. 4.2% lager. Crisp, refreshing, not to much and not to little.

I did the Whistler Tough Mudder many years ago, and at the end of transporting myself 18km and doing a bunch of obstacles and getting electrocuted, they give you a beer. I’d never had a Dos Equis before that, and it was the most delicious beer I’d ever had. I assumed it was because after that level of exercise, anything would have been refreshing, but it turns out that I think I really like Dos Equis. Enough alcohol and overall flavour to have a flavour (unlike the Barrilito), but it try to be more than it is.

After this trip, I’ve decided that I think Dos Equis (and the Ambar, which I’ve never seen before Mexico) is a really good beer.

Pescadore Blonde Ale

Untapped. Untappd Brewery. Brewery. 4.5%, a blonde ale that I drank after I finished a Dos Equis at La Famiglia. Slightly hoppier than I prefer, but good enough bite with the fatty pizza.

This is a local microbrewery at Puerto Morales about 35 minutes drive from Playa Del Carmen. One of a small number of craft brews I had in PDC, so while I didn’t love this beer, I like that they exist! The brewery has a Habanero Ale that sounds fascinating!

Corona

Untappd. You know Corona, you’ve had a lot of them. But you’ve likely never taken the time to compare it to other brands of a similar nature. Corona, in my mind, is the reference lager against which all other “Mexican” or “cervesa” lagers are compared to.

I’ve decided that I don’t like it. >.>

It has a “skunky” taste that at first I attributed to bad batch, because my first Mexican drinking of it was at a buffet where I got served it in a short glass.

I later got a bottle of it at a restaurant, and noted the same skunk flavours.

Reading about it now, some of these flavours are said to exist because (for whatever silly reason) Corona is sold in clear glassware, which is very very bad for beer. Beer is sold in brown or green bottles because that kind of glass absorbs light frequencies that catalyze these kind of off-flavours.

I’m going to avoid Corona in future, in favour of…well…almost anything else. Not that I wasn’t avoiding it anyway. But now I have a scienticious reason for it.

Victoria

Untapped. 4% and comparable to the Corona, but more like a Heineken, with a slightly more “green” taste. Didn’t really like it, and if you’re going for a low-alcohol beer you have much better choices in the area (Tecate Light, for example).

Sol

Untappd. Where I live, Sol is a brand you might pick up if you want a Corona but don’t want a Corona. 4.2% and closer in flavour to Corona, but less skunky. I didn’t like it enough to have it again, once I was on duplicates.

Modelo Especial

Untappd. 4.5%. crisp, light, very tasty and easy to like. I’m sad I didn’t take any photos of this one, because I like the somewhat minimalist and cute bottles.

Negra Modelo

Untappd. This was not a good beer. My first thought is that it was a lager with “dark flavour” added. Holding it in my mouth left no flavour, until I swallowed and then it was there.

It reminded me of an experience with drinking beer in Costa Rica many years ago, when I had the “Imperial Dark” which tasted like the “Imperial Regular”, but had a darker colour.

Unfortunately, this beer was worse than that experience, because at least the Imperial was a decent lager.

Bohemia Vienna

Untapped. 4.9%, 14.4 IBUs. Dark lager. Tasty, dark and crisp. Bohemia does good beers, and you can’t go wrong with either of this one or their Pilsner “Clara”.

Bohemia Pilsner

Untappd. A 4.7%, 21 IBU pilsner. After drinking Mexican lagers all week, I wasn’t prepared for a pilsner. Tasted sweeter than I think l pilsner usually is. Less of the bitter or sharp flavour I associate with them. My reference pilsner is Heineken, which I’m sick of, and this was reminiscent, but quite different. Quite nice, would drink again.

Indio

Untapped. 4.1%, Sweet and comparable to the Tecate. Virtually the same beer to my taste.

And that’s it!

Wow, that is a lot of beer. I think I drank 1-3 a day for 2 weeks. Time to go home and not drink daily for some period of time. 😛