Subscribe Feed (RSS)Negra Modelo
July 8th, 2008 by Aaron Goldfarb | 3 Comments | Filed in Brewer: Grupo Modelo, Country: Mexico, Grade: B plus, Style: Lager
5.4% ABV
While most folks celebrated America’s birthday with cheap U.S. macro beer, I opted to indulge myself in Mexican brews and a Honduran cigar.
As far as I can tell, Negra Modelo is Mexico’s finest beer. That’s kind of sad I guess, but in a country whose most popular brew is the despicable Corona, we’re not exactly dealing with a standard bell curve that culminates with rare A pluses on the short tail to the far right. Surprisingly enough, the Grupo Modelo brewery that makes Corona also happens to make Negra. Quite a stark difference between the two.
Negra is what I order–save sometimes an occasional margarita–when dining Mexican. And, along with Tecate, it’s probably the only Mexican beer I will purchase for home usage. Inexplicably, this most recent time I drank Negra, I was served the foil-rimmed bottle with a lime corked into it. Why the fuck do Mexicans think every single drink needs a lime in it? This is a dark, rich Vienna-style lager. It’s almost stoutish with its toastiness and hints of coffee and caramel. Can you think of a less appropriate fruit to throw into that kind of beer than a goddamn lime?! Perhaps a cherry tomato or a pear or a peach? Just give the beer fruitless please.
Negra is a very, nice and flavorful (and incredibly drinkable) dark beer from a culture that typical doesn’t give us anything close to that. It would be a solid beer in any country and any culture though. Recommended.
Hey, and if any one can recommend a better Mexican beer–and, no, I don’t want to hear about Pacifica or Dos Equis–then I am all ears. Please comment below.
B+
