Most of us think of hot tropical beaches, margaritas, tacos, and mariachis when we think of Mexico, and that’s not incorrect. Wherever you go in Mexico, you’re bound to encounter hot temperatures and cold beverages.
Mexicans have a unique beer culture that is all about refreshing yourself and enjoying the good life. Who can disagree with that? We’re here to explore the best Mexican beer brands for you to try and enjoy.
Due to an intensely hot year-round climate, most Mexican beers are lagers or Austrian-style pilsners as these are the lightest, most refreshing beers to enjoy on a hot day. Mexicans also love dousing everything they eat or drink with limes, chili powders, and salsas, all of which go better with a lighter beer with more subtle flavors that won’t clash with citrus or spice.
If you want to drink a beer in the classic Mexican style, we recommend you try a Michelada. This is a beer of your choice poured over a glass with a mixture of lime juice, clamato salsa, salsa magi, chili powder or tajin, and ice. There’s no beer drink more refreshing and bursting with flavor than the Michelada!
20 Best Mexican Beers
We’ve compiled a list of the best Mexican beers on the market today. Most of them are mass-produced and regularly exported worldwide. However, Mexico has a growing artisanal microbrewing movement with beers that stray far from the typical Mexican-style lager or pilsner.
No matter which beer you try, you’ll surely enjoy the refreshing taste of Mexico. So bust out the chips and guacamole and head out to the backyard, barbeque, or beach for this list. Salud!
Corona Extra
Corona might be a more famous beer outside of Mexico than within it. Corona instantly makes us think of a lazy beach afternoon, seated under shady palm trees, watching the turquoise Caribbean waters with an ice-cold beer in hand.
Maybe that’s just masterful marketing, but it aptly represents Corona’s deliciously refreshing lager. You’ll get a lightly sweet corn flavor, medium body, and high carbonation. Corona tastes even better with a dash of fresh lime squeezed in.
Dos Equis
Dos Equis is another Mexican staple at U.S. grocery stores, bars, and liquor stores. It comes in lagers or their amber brew. The lager is the more widely drunk beer from Dos Equis. It is malty, velvety, carbonated goodness with a hint of bread and corn.
Like most Mexican beers, adding a slice of lime and salt really awakens the subtle flavors of the Dos Equis lager.
Victoria
Victoria is one of the most popular and ubiquitous beers in Mexico. It is an Austrian Pilsner style lager, amber in color with a sweet, malty, bready flavor that has a funky aftertaste.
Unlike Corona and Dos Equis, you’ll get more depth of flavor with this lager with a bite of floral hops.
El Secreto 1881 Malta Dorada
This microbrewery out of Mexico City glorifies their amber lager by deeming it a malta dorada or “golden malt.” It’s a premium American style lager. Golden and clear in color, subtly sweet with light malt flavor and a medium body. It’s a delicious lager and refreshing in its simplicity.
Indio
Less known in the states but a popular Mexican staple, Indio is a Vienna-style lager with dark caramel coloring and a harsh, bitter bite from the hops used to brew it. The aroma of caramel and malt is deceiving as it is not nearly as sweet as it smells. Still, it is light-bodied and goes down nice and smooth.
Pacifico
Brewed and bottled in the Pacific coastal town of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Pacifico is a deliciously refreshing pilsner-style beer. It is pale yellow with a balanced flavor encompassing sweet malt, herbal hop bitterness, and crisp dryness.
It’s effortless to drink two or three of these at a time if they’re ice-cold. It’s hard to find a more refreshing beer than Pacifico.
Falling Piano Coahuila 99
Falling Piano is a microbrewery in Mexico City that offers new and distinct beers for Mexicans to try that fall outside of the standard lager or pilsner styles with which they are familiar.
Coahuila 99 is a deep red ale with a very sweet malty flavor and a toasty aftertaste. We applaud Falling Piano brewers for thinking outside of the box and showing the rest of the world that Mexicans can master any beer style.
Negra Modelo
Known as the “cream of beers” in Mexico, this luxurious dark beer is a cut above the rest. A deep caramel color, Negra Modelo has a very creamy body with a clean finish, a caramel nutty aroma, and a floral hoppiness that isn’t too overpowering.
Tecate
Tecate is the classic cookout or house party beer. It’s a cheap lager you can buy in bulk, and it fits the bill of a light-bodied refreshing lager that goes down as easily as water.
You’ll get a grainy soda cracker aroma and taste with a mild dose of hops. It’s crisp and inoffensive, and while it’s not the most adventurous beer, most people will drink it with pleasure.
Sol
Sol is a longstanding Mexican lager, first brewed in 1899. Brewers named it for the sun to represent its bright color and taste. Sol is the tamest lager on our list with very little aroma or actual flavor to speak of, but nice medium body and carbonation.
Motor Cerveceria Condesa Porter
This one is for the coffee lovers out there. The porter by Chihuahua-based microbrewery Motor Cerveceria tastes like a delicious cold-brewed coffee as much as a drinkable beer.
This porter displays a complex array of aromas and flavors; a toasty maltiness gives way to a strong coffee flavor with notes of chocolate and almonds. Yum!
Leon
Leon is a dark lager with sweet, dark malt, and dark fruit tastes with a hint of bitterness from the hops to balance it all out. The Coca-Cola color might weird you out, but the flavor and drinkability more than make up for it.
Minerva-Morenos Homies
This Jalisco-based microbrewery packs some serious flavor into this West Coast IPA, marketing it as the perfect tropical vocational beer. They use two different hops with lemon drop and citrus to infuse an intense acidic citrus and white grape aroma.
Noche Buena
This seasonal winter Bock is a delightfully sweet craft beer that even smells like Christmas. An aroma of nutmeg, cinnamon, chocolate, and caramel cedes to a caramel, malt, and butterscotch flavor with a sweet finish.
It’s as winter as a Mexican beer can get!
Montejo
Montejo is a pilsner with a bit more to offer than your standard Mexican lager. It is a deep golden amber color with a sweet corn, malt, and apple aroma. The taste has a sweet corn flavor but with citrusy and bready notes. You can taste hops, but there is bitterness.
Montejo is light-bodied with a dry finish. It’s a very drinkable classic beer that might become your go-to if you can find it at your local store.
Nucali Dystopia
Another West Coast IPA from Baja California, Nucali Dystopia is quite hoppy with a citrusy, fruity, and piney aroma and flavor. It’s definitely for avid beer drinkers who aren’t afraid of a little bitterness, but the dry, crisp finish is undeniably refreshing.
Estrella
Estrella is a cheap lager that’s a great addition to a beach day cooler. Akin to Tecate or Corona, this light-bodied, super carbonated beer has a corn, cereal, and grassy smell. You’ll get a bit more citrus in the flavor accompanied by the corn and yeasty lager taste. All-in-all a solid and affordable Mexican lager best served ice cold.
Modelo Especial
Modelo Especial is Negra Modelo’s sister brew. It’s a light beer that offers all the typical Mexican lager characteristics, including a light-yellow, almost clear seltzer water appearance and a corn and grassy smell and flavor.
This beer has no real malt or hops flavor to speak of. It is a reasonably neutral beer in that it isn’t too flavorful, but it isn’t offensive either. It is a refreshing, highly carbonated beer that is light-bodied and tastes great with Mexican food.
Carta Blanca
Carta Blanca is a surprisingly different Mexican lager that adds many unexpected German flavors to the mix. It is a deep amber color with a caramel malt and toasted pretzel smell. The sweet yeasty pretzel taste really shines through in the taste as well, along with a strong malt flavor and a bitter aftertaste.
Like malt liquor, this beer is sudsy, but it has a clean, light, and dry finish. This beer tastes great with a squeeze of citrus.
Bohemia
We’ve saved the best for last. Bohemia is our favorite Mexican beer. It is the perfect pilsner, with a well-balanced taste of lemony citrus, crisp floral hops, and a subtly sweet maltiness. It has a medium body, moderate carbonation and is one of the only beers that doesn’t have to be ice-cold to enjoy.
It’s our favorite beer to enjoy alongside a plate of authentic Mexican food. Provecho!