Modelo Especial

Brewed by Grupo Modelo (Corona)
Style: Pale Lager
México DF, Mexico

All in all, a typical Mexican brew. Slightly better than Corona in my estimation, the pale golden pilsner has only the mildest hppy notes mingled with the faintest citrus hints. A bit of malt, but not too much of anything going on. Not terribly great, but not offensive. A decent sipping beer.

So NachlamSie and I decided to embark upon a journey to the Great Lakes area, hitting lots of brewpubs, and bottle shops. As our most successful journey was coming to an end, we found ourselves in the Polish section of Chicago. After walking for an eternity and eating a wonderful Polish buffet, we decided to stop at a bar for a beer. In the heart of Polish Chicago, we hoped to at least manage to get a descent Polish beer before hopping back on the Blue Line ride back to the hotel for the last night. We instead found ourselves in a bar that had one pool table, a TV, a few local drunks, and only Macro beers. We decided to go with the Modelo Especial. I even had a lime with mine. So after a week of some of the most fantastic beers and bottle shops in America, we found our trip coming to a close in a dive bar in Polish Chicago, drinking Mexican beer on Saturday night. Fantastic times. The beer was secondary to the experience, but I remember it being watery and corn syrupy, with my lime providing me with the most satisfaction.

Bottle at Guarduno’s in Scottsdale, AZ. Best thing about this beer was the fun ambiance of the restaurant. Typical clear gold pour with no head or lacing. Mildly skunky aroma of nothing. Reasonably malty flavor without the "Corona-esque" citrus sour note. No finish and classically watery mouthfeel. Not as bad as most south/central american pale lagers but they’re all brews to be avoided anyway.

I was at a party and it was either this or corona. I picked the unexpected and enjoyed it OK. Not much flavor, not much, hops, not much of anything really. Better than Corona, I suppose, but that’s not saying a whole lot, is it? I think I dumped about half of it but I kept the bottle because I can put good homebrew in it.

Bottle. Pale, golden color. Eating it with mexican food is all well and good, but I don’t think I would drink this any other way. At the very least there are better ones that I would rather buy when out.

This beer is light. It is also too watery and malty. I had it in a bottle. Light golden appearance. The head is thick and white. An average to low Mexican beer. Would probably never buy again.

(12 oz bottle: BevMo in La Jolla, CA) I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy drinking this beer, but it sure is a great-looking brew. Medium golden in color with tremendous clarity, the carbonation bubbles start very small and slow-moving at the bottom of the glass, gaining both size and speed as they rise toward the half-inch-tall, snow white head. Retention seems decent so far and there’s even some lace on the glass too. I can’t lavish so much love on the flavor though because while this isn’t bad for a Mexican lager, it’s still not something I’m enjoying that much. The beer actually tastes malty to me, though it also seems a little corny as well. A hint of hops is there as well, but the problem here, as it seems to be with most of these Mexican lagers, is the unnecessary sweetness that leaves me with a stale aftertaste after several sips. Only mild sweetness in the nose, some generic "pale lager" maltiness. Body is light and carbonation is about average. Probably one of the better Mexican pale lagers out there, but don’t expect me to rush out and buy a sixer now.

Light and rather evanescent head. Dark yellow color, medium but light fizz. Simple and much watery scent; light notes of alcohol and straw. Top heavy and little pleasant taste; notes of worthless cereals and detergent. Light bitter and lightly emphasis alcohol tone.