Modelo Especial

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

There is definitely something distinct about Mexican beers. They have a "lime-nes" to each and every one of them. Modelo Especialo is an example. It went great with a burrito but my guess is it would not work with a football game.

Skunky corn cheap lager aroma. Smells of pay day bars and cheap hookers. No pleasure in this one, just the flavor of discontent.

This is your classic Mexi schwag vienna lager style of brew. Nothing special but goes well with chips, salsa and Carne Asada. Negra is better but this one is a better ingredient in my wife’s favorite Margarita recipe. This is strictly an ambiance beer...something that will only accompany Mexican food or drink...Salud!

Thin, fizzy, grain-mash aroma and flavor. Standard mass-brew sourness. As with most Mexican lagers, one tiny step above American mass-brews but still with few redeeming qualities. I had higher hopes for this one figuring it would be on the same plane as the thoroughly enjoyable Negra Modelo. No such luck -- Corona with a different label.

Bottle. Pours gold with a frothy white head and some lined spotty lacing. Sour malt (hay, straw, meal) and corn yeast (sweat) aromas. Sweet yeast and sour malt flavors of roasted corn. Light bodied.

This is the best of the pale lager mexican beers that I have had. But I don’t think it is very good. It has nice color, but does not have much of a body or a head. It has a nice crisp flavor when it is cold. Some hops, some malt, but maybe too much alcohol. The aftertaste is bitter, and it could use a lime too.

Slightly grassy aroma. Clear yellow beer with a thin white head. The flavor, while not especially pronounced, was surprisingly refreshing, it was just a clean pilsner flavor. The mouthfeel was light, and there was none of the metalic taste you usually get with Modelo products.

Very clear and refreshing looking beer. Light on the palate, weak in flavor unless spiced up with some lime and/or limon salt. But hey, it’s a Mexican beer, so I don’t expect them to be good without lime and salt anyway.