The real reason Bud Light sales are plunging

[dalton99a]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/28/mexican-beer-rules-america/
https://archive.ph/U49Q4

The real reason Mexico suddenly dominates global beer exports
Analysis by Andrew Van Dam
April 28, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

After the Great Recession, the Dutch had a solid grip on the global beer market, powered by Holland hop heavyweight Heineken. But within a decade, the Netherlands — indeed all of Europe’s hoppy heartland — would be unceremoniously thrashed by a New World upstart: Mexico.

Today, Mexico ships out more than twice as much beer as any other country and single-handedly accounts for 30 percent of the world’s entire export-beer market, according to Geneva-based trade statistics provider Trade Data Monitor. That puts Mexico far above the Netherlands (14 percent), Belgium (13 percent) and even Oktoberfest progenitor Germany (9 percent).

How in the world did Mexico pull off this brew coup?

A trail of booze clues would eventually lead us to an antitrust success story from the Obama administration. But it started, as these things often do, with market share.

...

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. It sucks?

Jesus, I wouldn't drink it if I had to choose between that or water.

[Kennah]

24. That's where I went

[WarGamer]

2. Because it's nasty?

After my college years I don't think I touched a beer for 25 years.

Then I discovered all these micro-breweries on the West Coast producing all these custom pale ale beers, particularly Heffeweizen...

They brew them with citrus notes and even banana...

[Buckeye_Democrat]

6. Hefeweizens get most of their flavor...

... of banana and cloves from the yeast by-products as they ferment both the barley and the wheat.

It's one of my favorite German beer styles since it has few hops added to it, so it's not bitter at all. Those wheat beers will go stale more quickly than most beers, though, so it's better to drink them soon after they're brewed.

Many American microbreweries use a lot of hops in their beers, with so many varieties to choose from among hop growers in the Pacific northwest. That's usually where citrus flavors originate, but I'm a little leery of American microbreweries after drinking some beers that were too bitter for my palate. Unlike many people, I don't like IPA's and the like.

Hefeweizens are relatively easy and fast to brew at home, by the way. It was one of my favorites when I used to do it. They were better than the store-bought hefeweizens, being so fresh.

[unc70]

3. Almost all these brands are from just one company

Nearly all of these beer brands are owned by InBev. The WSJ seems caught up in the "rivalry" story, missing that the are all the same company.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AB_InBev_brands

It has over 400 brands.

[pecosbob]

9. This

[James48]

4. Sorry-

Last edited Wed May 3, 2023, 03:04 PM - Edit history (1)

I served in the US Army and was stationed in Germany for four years.

Because of that, I am unable to drink United States brewed mega corporation beer.

My tastebuds after a sip of a succulent spring time golden Hefeweizen negate my ability to tolerate an inferior American beer. I just can’t do it.

[Mysterian]

13. Me too!

I had to make my own beer after returning from three years in Germany, before the microbrew craze in the USA. Never made a bad batch. Now there are enough good microbrews so I haven't made any kit beer for several years.

[FakeNoose]

33. Agreed - the beers made in Germany are so much better

Their Reinheitsgebot (beer purity laws) required that German beers cannot have additives or preservatives. Just 4 ingredients in German beers: water, yeast, hops, and malt. However when they export to the US and elsewhere, the German-made beers will (sometimes) contain preservatives to keep them fresher for the long distance travel.

American-made beers have no such requirements of course. They can put anything they want in it and call it "beer."

[GenThePerservering]

5. It's a race to the bottom

deciding which is worse - American lager or Mexican lager. It's all crap mega-lager. Even Heinekin is pretty disgusting - mostly corn and augments with a single hop waved over a vat of the stuff.

A shame, too, because if one likes the lager or pils style, there are far better options available.

[A HERETIC I AM]

8. It's been said that the best wines never leave the area they are made....

and I think the same is true with beers. The best Italian reds are drunk by the people who live right near the vineyards where the grapes are grown.

Many of the fine micro brews of the Pacific North West are difficult if not impossible to find outside of those states, and some beers just don't travel well.

I used to drink Rolling Rock, a decent beer made in a single brewery in Latrobe, PA. But when I bought it in south Florida it would often be "skunky" because (I was told) it had gotten hot sometime after it left the brewery and before it got to my fridge.

A shame, too, because if one likes the lager or pils style, there are far better options available.

Of that there is no doubt. I had the chance to visit England several times in the 90's and found there were plenty of really good Pilsners and Lagers available in your average English Pub, many of them from the continent.

[modrepub]

12. Pre 1980s

Almost all beer was local. Then came the commercialization via advertising. It was clever; less filling, tastes great, buuuusch, taste of the Rockies, Spuds MacKenzie and the like. Then everyone wanted what the saw on TV and then most of the Regional brewers went bankrupt and the ones that didn't became mega breweries.

Always seems to be consolidation into bigger entities for cost savings and other efficiencies. Probably why micro breweries are back in the rage. It's like comparing a wedding cake to something like a Little Debbie cake. As far as sweetness goes, they are both good. But you would never expect a mass produced product to compare favorably to something made by someone who is practicing a craft.

[Mysterian]

15. I was in Kansas City around 1994

and I was really amazed to see that Rolling Rock was a hipster beer selling for like $4 a bottle in the tall green bottles. We used to buy a a big pack of the pony bottles for like $10 when I lived in the Pittsburgh area growing up.

[Arthur_Frain]

27. Pity the poor schmucks who live in Utah

A six pack of quality beer (Rogue, Dead Guy Ale) will run you $24. No break for the six pack, it’s sold by the bottle.

That beer is never refrigerated from the time the truck drops it off at the state run liquor store, until it hits your fridge. Most of the time, they stack it up in the sunshine right in front of the windows.

Recently changed the laws, so this info may be antiquated, but as recently as 5 years ago, any beer above 4.2 threshold was only available in the state run liquor stores. So the shitty bud light et al are still being refrigerated, but that’s like putting lipstick on a pig.

Of course all of that jacked up profit goes to the gay hating, race baiting, womens’ gatekeeping club we all know and love as the mormon church.

I am sooooo happy to have put that shithole state in my rear view mirror. A shame really, because there’s a lot of natural beauty in Utah. Skiing, slick rock biking, hiking, all fantastic there, too bad it’s in a state run by Neanderthal minded, hateful old men.

[Bristlecone]

7. Seems like the gigantic uptick in Micro-brewing and local brewing

Has something to do with these declines, in comparison over the last decade.

Any store worth its beer-selling salt has rows of micros vs the small area dedicated to a specific Bud Light

[doc03]

10. Coors and others say the water makes the difference in their beer.

I have always heard don't drink the water in Mexico yet we are consuming mass quantities in their beer aren't we?

[Zeitghost]

25. The water problems in Mexico

Are due to a lack of infrastructure distributing potable water in some areas and not inherently bad water. The mega breweries have their own sources and filtering.

[tanyev]

11. Wow, I'm surprised to see Modelo so high.

Tried it once. The beer was fine, but I didn't like the foil wrap around the bottle opening. Never thought about it while I was standing in front of the beer selection in the store, trying to decide what to buy. I guess I assumed it would easily pull off. It did not, and I never bought any more.

[Polybius]

14. That's all it took?

Why did that bother you so much?

[tanyev]

16. Texture, metallic taste, god only knows what materials are in that foil?

In my grocery store there's an entire wall full of other options.

[Chakaconcarne]

17. I'll take a Corona or Dos Equis over Bud or Coors any day.....

If only bud or coors available, I'll pass entirely.

[sakabatou]

18. I mean, it's not like Bud tastes nasty as hell.

Give me a Corona any day!

[Aristus]

19. Personally, I don't know how such shitty beer got so many buyers in the first place.

But then, I've always been known for my taste, sophistication, and discernment.

I've never been in the "Just gimme a case of whatever's cheapest" camp.

[CatWoman]

20. snob!!!!

[Aristus]

23. You'd better believe it.

[GoCubsGo]

22. My guess is that college kids and broke grad students were driving it.

A lot of them are more interested in quantity, rather than quality, so they're going to go with what's cheapest. Some of them don't out-grow that. And, many just plain develop a taste for swill from drinking so much of it when they were younger.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

29. I've never been in the "Just gimme a case of whatever's cheapest" camp.

That camp is called a frat house. Mass quantities of cheap beer.

Pass me a cold PBR, if you please, Aristus.

[Iggo]

35. Advertising. Availability.

It’s everywhere.

And it’s everywhere.

[Arthur_Frain]

26. Going to step right up and say draft Negra Modelo Especial is a real treat.

American microbreweries have overdone their infatuation with IPAs. IPAs are great mind you, but it’s a real mouthful of flavor. If you can find the Negra Modelo Especial on tap where you are, give it a try.

I don’t think I’ve had Budweiser products for several decades now, except when somebody shows up to the remote cabin with a brick of it.

[maveric]

32. My fave. Great taste.

[MineralMan]

28. Bud Light? Well, I Guess All That Clydesdale Pee

has to go somewhere. Ugh!

[ChoppinBroccoli]

30. What Does Bud Light Have In Common With Sex In A Canoe?

They're both f**king near water.

Thanks to all the hillbillies who lost their shit over Bud Light for outing themselves as tasteless bumpkins. American beer is watered-down swill consumed by people who aren't worldly and/or refined enough to know what actual GOOD beer tastes like. These are the people who put ketchup on steak.

[City67]

31. I drank Bud Light for years

I lived in So California most of my life and I always drank Bud Light. Some years back I left Calif for the east coast and discovered something I'd never noticed in Calif: Micro and Craft Breweries. No Bud Light for me for almost 10 years now. I've developed a taste for Stouts and Porters which are the exact opposite of Bud Light. Porters aged in bourbon barrels are my absolute fav. Of course they cost more than double but it's worth it.

[Retrograde]

34. California was pretty early in the microbrewery revival

The 2nd microbrewery in the country opened c. 1982 in Hopland, California (about 40 miles north of San Francisco. Back in the late 19th century the area grew a lot of hops for Bay Area beermakers). There were quite a few eateries that made their own beer after that: they ranged from places that were essentially breweries that served a small selection of sandwiches to more upscale restaurants that had a few vats in the back, like the original Gordon Biersch, about 6 blocks from me.

I'll occasionally drink micheladas made from Corona of Modelo, but mostly I drink beers from small local breweries. My goal is to drink at every brewpub in the US, which, sadly, is falling further out of reach as they open faster than I can get to them.

[Brother Buzz]

36. Curiously, Mexico imports most of their barley from the United states

So you're gonna have a bunch of grain belt farmers smiling while drinking a Mexican beer, and thinking the Bud Light shit has rice in it.

Rice? Them grain belt farmers like that Reinheitsgebot 'Purity Law'.

Reinheitsgebot, also known as the 'purity law', is said to be the oldest, still-enforced food regulation in the world. It was ordered by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria in the year 1516. The Purity law required that "nothing other than barley, hops, and water" be used to produce beer (They quietly added yeast when they discovered what it was).