Dos Equis XX

The beer of the week is one of my favorites. It might actually be my favorite beer out of any of them, but not because of the taste or the texture, but because of the memories that i get from this beer.

In Rocky Point, or Puerto Penasco, A little city on the Pacific Ocean just southwest of the U.S., there is a little bar called Baja. This bar also happens to be a 15 dollar all you can drink bar, and guess what beer they have, Dos Equis, an unlimited amount. Going there is like swimming in a large sea of Dos Equis, its a wonderful feeling and always an amazing time.

Not only that, but i can remember going there on my freshman and sophomore spring break trips, I layed on the beach, with a case of Dos Equis next to me, that in Mexico is real cheap and just drank them all day and all night, having maybe the best time of my entire life.

When i think of Dos Equis these are the types of things that come to my mind, so as you can imagine it has a little place in my heart. Not only does it bring in the memories but it is sold all over the U.S., as well as in most of the Mexican restaurants that are around just about any city there is.

Dos Equis has two different types beer, there is regular Dos Equis lager, which is a very light and golden beer, more like a European-style pilsner. There is also Dos Equis Amber lager, which is a much darker and has a much richer flavor, more like a Vienna style amber. The regular comes in a green bottle and the amber comes in a brown bottle.

According to www.dosxx.com the color of these bottles are better because those colors filter the most sunlight and keep the beer at its best and freshest. "I love the Amber, but the regular Dos Equis just makes me feel good when i drink it, like I'm in Mexico having an amazing time," said Ryan Keller, UA political science major.

One downside to Dos Equis is that they do not make a light beer, they only have regular. Dos Equis has around 145 calories per bottle and has an alcohol content of 4.8% according to www.realbeer.com.

On the bottles themselves there are two pictures, first you will find two X's, which is what Dos Equis actually translates to in English. Also there is a face, the face is of Moctezuma, aka Montezuma, the 16th century Aztec ruler who was conquered by Cortez. "Together they remind us of both our traditions and of change," said the Dos Equis website.

Dos Equis is brewed in one of the biggest breweries in Mexico, Moctezuma Brewery. It joins other very big beers such as Sol and Tecate. Dos Equis is sold in a bottle most and traditionally, but now as with most Mexican beers Dos Equis can also be purchased in a can. You can find Dos Equis at any liquor store as well as just about all grocery stores around America.

The Moctezuma Brewery was started in Mexico by a German immigrant, Wilhelm Hasse in 1884. 13 years later in 1897 he created a beer name Siglo XX (which means 20th century in English) to celebrate the upcoming century. With the start of the new century, the beer was renamed to Dos Equis (which means two X's in English) because in Spanish they use Roman numerals for the centuries.

TECATE

It will have to be known that when people grab a Mexican beer, Corona is one, but what comes after that, the answer for some, Tecate.

This is a big favorite among many Mexican beer drinkers and this beer has been around a very long time and comes from one of the biggest brewing companies this side of the Mississippi. Of course it is not as big as Corona in the states but still very popular both here and in Mexico.

Tecate was started in 1954. The beer was named after the city of Tecate, Baja California, which is where it was locally brewed until 1955. In 1955 It was bought out by Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma. All Tecate is brewed in Mexico.

Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma is a major brewery started in 1890, it is a subsidiary of the largest beverage company in Mexico and Latin America. The brewery also makes other popular beers such as Sol and Dos Equis.

Tecate is a lager beer, which makes it a lighter beer, although not a actual light beer. Tecate does not come in light, it only has its original option. The alcohol content has 3.6 percent alcohol content.

Tecate was the first ever canned beer in Mexico and comes in a few different containers. It comes in its classic red 12 ounce can, as well as a 12 ounce bottle, a caguama (32 ounce bottle) and a 24 ounce can.

Tecate is a very fun beer to drink because as with most Mexico beers it brings people back in memory and makes you feel more in Mexico and having fun. The advertisements for Tecate are very different than Corona. I could not find any in English giving me the impression that Tecate does not advertise to the American market, probably why it is so far behind Corona. The advertisements for Tecate more involved a lot of people either partying or watching a soccer game.

Soccer is a very big deal to Tecate, Soccer is listed very large on their website and in a few of their commercials. Copa Tecate is the soccer team that is sponsored by Tecate. There are also Tecate girls, who go around endorsing Tecate and there is also a Tecate girls calendar.

Tecate Time line:

• 1954- Tecate starts in red can
• 1955- bought by Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma
  
• 1957- the removable pull-tab was launched for glass bottle
• 1989- first beer to have the friendly pull-tab, which is not removable, therefore reducing pollution.
• 1990- went from 3 piece aluminum/metal can to the 2 piece all aluminum can.
  
• 1995- Tecate starts the first twiste off cap

Sources
-Wikipedia.com
-Cervezatecate.com

Brandyn's Border Brew 2

When you come start to think about Mexican beer, Corona is the beer that will come up in most peoples minds first.

Corona is probably the most popular beer that comes out of Mexico. Everyone knows that you put a lime in it and enjoy, but how much more about it do you know then that? I will tell you everything you need to know about this enjoyable beer.

Modelo is the name of the Company that brews all of the Corona beers. There are two main beer that Corona brews, Corona extra and Corona light. All of Modelo beers are brewed in their eight breweries throughout Mexico.

Corona is the top selling beer in Mexico and one of the top selling beers worldwide. Corona is available in over 150 different countries, and is Mexico's leading export brand.

Corona was first brewed in 1925. It is labeled as a pilsner, which is a pale lager. In 1997 Corona Extra became the top selling imported beer in the United States, surpassing heineken.

If you have never had a Corona before, then maybe you have been locked in a closet, or maybe you have never really been much of a beer person, both the Corona light and extra are both a very light beer. Golden in color so it is a much easier to drink beer than most the dark beers and has a very mild flavor. The Corna Extra has 4.6 percent alcohol by volume, which is not bad at all, while Corona light has around 3.7 percent alcohol by volume.

Corona is also one of the only beers to be bottled in a clear bottle. The reason this is so unique is becuase a clear bottle makes the beer much more suseptible to UV rays from the sun which will spoil the beer.

In all of the Corona ads or commercials that you may see, they always go fo the same thing. Corona wants to be associated with having a good relaxing time. They always show people laying in hammocks on the beach in the Bahamas holding a beer, or some other clever way incorporating the beer into seeming like your on the sandy beaches of mexico enjoying a ice cold Corona.

In case you are watching your calories Corona light is very low on the calories. It only has 105 calories per bottle. If you aren't a fan of the light, Corona extra has 148 calories, so not too terribly bad either.

Now for a lot of people the idea of the whole Mexican water issues may have some people wondering about how clean all the water in Corona is. According to Corona website, all of the water is gotten from underground wells and is treated and purified to international industry standards, which would be good news to all.

Corona is made with all natural ingrediants as well, water, barley, hops and yeast. Corona Extra in the U.S. comes in a seven, ten, or 24 ounce bottles. In some markets Corona is also sold in a 12 ounce can.

Modelo is a huge booming indrustry that has six different beers here in the U.S. and another three that only sell in Mexico. They employ more than 40 thousand employees and have an average net income of around 7.291 billion pesos in 2005.

• Just for fun, Corona is a spanish word and in english means crown.

-sources:

• Wikipedia.org

• Corona.com

• Google images
  

The objective

When you think about beers, a few things come to mind. Maybe its your favorite beer, maybe its that cheap beer to play some beer pong with, or maybe it was that amazing trip you took to Mexico, and all that Mexican beer that you devoured.

This is a blog that will be dedicated to letting you know exactly what you drank while you were down there and what to try if you go back, or if you just go to your local liquor store and are interested in trying Mexico's finest.

Of course i will be going over some of those beers that you know like Corona, but does anyone really know anything about it, or why you have to put a lime in it? As time goes on i am going to be going out and finding new and exciting beers that most have not heard of and give you a detail description of its taste as well as a history and how much to expect to pay for this beer.

I will be as honest as i can, but i will warn all that i am a light beer drinker, so i do not enjoy the dark beers very much so this could make my opinion of beers, such as XX amber, perhaps a little unfair i guess you could say, but it is my goal to try and attempt to stay with beers i feel that i could like and drink a lot of.

Come back once a week to see what new and exciting beer im talking about next, it'll be like we are in Mexico throwing back a cold one!

-Brandyn