The production of craft beer in Mexico is a very young industry, if we take into account that beer has been produced in Mexico for 479 years and craft beer will only be about 26 years old.
A Young Industry
That's right, beer was produced for the first time in Mexico in 1542 thanks to the authorization of King Charles I of Spain (or Charles V of Germany) to produce this drink in New Spain.
Although Mexican beer has been produced for almost 500 years, it only entered the international market in 1985 with the first exports to the United States. That is, just 36 years ago Mexican beer reached other countries.
The relevance of Mexican beer worldwide only reached around the year 2000, however it was consolidated by its quality and by keeping the recipe as original as possible in 2015 with the new style guides, where several Mexican lager beers are recognized and introduced as authentic styles by the Brewery Judges Certification Program (BJCP).
This information is confirmed in the performance of exports, whose growth has been sustained (with the exception of 2020 where exports fell by 6.2%) and is the main Agri-Food export product of Mexico. It only represents 22% of total agri-food exports.
National beer production has been above traditionally brewing countries such as Germany and England, occupying fourth place in production. The largest producer is China 23%, followed by the United States 11%, third place is Brazil 7% and fourth is Mexico 6%. Leaving behind Germany 5%, Russia 4%, Japan 3% and in a tie we have England, Poland and Vietnam with 2%.
A Precocious Baby
Speaking of craft beer in Mexico, it is a growing baby, unfortunately large companies have mythologized craft beers by acquiring small breweries at the time and bringing them to large-scale production. For example, even Coca Cola has just acquired a Brazilian beer company to enter the "Craft Beers" market.
Well, the baby came out early, today it is fighting to try to capture 1% of the value of the national market. That is to say, in a few years it has managed to highlight its production and quality, leading several small and independent breweries to obtain great awards abroad.
Great battles to come.
Without a doubt, the best for craft beer is yet to come and great battles are yet to happen, but small producers based on passion, dedication and effort are earning their place in the hearts of consumers and this is the engine that drives them to give the best of themselves.
To give the last drink, Mexican craft beer has played a great role in the world, we should look at this industry and develop economic policies that allow small producers to be more competitive by deducting the IEPS tax for small independent producers (as happens in United States) and looking for sources of financing and promotion of this activity.
In the end, the growth of beer production and export is at stake. For a long time there has not been a growth plan for key industries and Mexican craft beer has everything to be the crack of beer in the world.
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* Photos: Arturo Campos
Special thanks to Rosy Tovar and Arturo Campos.