Craft beer in Mexico is booming. Here Marcos Gottfried, the founder of Cerveza México, explains how small brewers are driving industry growth.
Beer production in Mexico has a long and surprising history. The first beer to be brewed on Mexican soil can be traced back to the time of conquistador Hernán Cortés, when Alfonso Herrera – an emissary of Cortés – asked the Spanish crown for permission to establish the nascent New Spain’s first brewery at the foot of the Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl volcanoes.
Although breweries and consumption became more popular during the 18th century, the establishment of the the modern industry, and the most emblematic breweries, took place during the lengthly, polemical rule of Porfirio Díaz – known as the Porfiriato – during the late 1880s and early 1900s.
Today, beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Mexico, followed by tequila, and the Mexican beer market as a whole has remained strong, even during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Mexican national statistics agency INEGI, Mexico sold close to 5.5 million litres of beer between January-May 2021, an increase of almost 41%.
Artisan appeal
But while the large, foreign-owned breweries remain dominant in terms of sales, one area that has been experiencing significant growth over recent years is the artisan beer industry. Thanks to ever greater quality and innovation, consumption of Mexican craft beer is on the rise across Mexico and beyond. In fact, independently-produced brews accounted for an estimated one in every 100 beers sold in Mexico during 2021, according to Mexican beer association Acermex. This is in part, the association says, a result of beer consumption levels which are now at a level above those seen before the pandemic.
However, although it only accounts for a small percentage of Mexico’s total beer industry, the artisanal beer segment has experienced phenomenal growth over the past decade. According to ACERMEX, total artisanal beer production increased by 2405% between 2011 and 2018, from 10,594 hectolitres to 265,405 hectolitres. In the 12 months from 2017 to 2018 alone, production in Mexico grew by 65% year-over-year.
The states of Jalisco (29%), Baja California (17%) and Nuevo Leon (14%) account for the lion’s share of artisanal breweries within Mexico, with the US, Canada and Europe the primary export destinations.
Focus on quality
As an illustration of the strength of the industry, our event – Cerveza México, which supports and promotes Mexico’s craft beer brewers and associated suppliers – is anticipating a 50% rise in exhibitors for the 2022 compared with 12 months before.
The event, which is also the stage for the yearly Cerveza Cup competition for best professional and amateur brews, is also expected to attract high numbers of national and international visitors.
Working closely with brewers and associations within Mexico, we have seen growth year after year in the artisan beer industry and that is down to a dramatic improvement in product quality which is driving consumption and sales. There is also an increasing confidence within the artisan industry, which is attracting ever greater numbers of aficionados thanks to its quality and originality of the products.
Consumption is now well established in both metropolitan areas and tourist hubs, and I predict that the sector will go from strength to strength over the coming years, with interest in Mexican craft beer likely to increase both inside and outside Mexico. I invite suppliers, retailers, importers and exporters to find out why Mexican artisan beer is a product worth a taste.
Cerveza México take places from October 21-23, 2022 in Mexico City’s World Trade Center with the parallel Cerveza México Suppliers and Inputs exhibition running from October 21-22, 2022.
A second event, Cerveza México Guadalajara, will take place from May 12-14, 2023 in Expo Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico.
