Anheuser-Busch To Import Mexican Lager

American brewing company Aanheuser-Busch will soon be adding a Mexican beer to their lineup of products.

The company announced the decision to import and sell the Mexican beer Montejo earlier this month, citing the growing demand for Mexican imports.

“We’ve been watching this market for a while, and the consumer demand is huge. The fastest-growing beers in the U.S. right now are not craft beers, but Mexican imports. Anheuser-Busch would be foolish not to attempt to tap into that growth,” said Ryan Garcia, vice president of Anheuser-Busch regional marketing.

Montejo is a popular Mexican beer that currently boasts a 70% rating (out of 100) on BeerAdvocate.com. It has a 4.5% alcohol by volume (ABV), and is viewed as one of the country’s leading brews. Anheuser-Busch hopes to capitalize on Montejo’s popularity by introducing it to U.S. markets. There’s an undeniable growing demand for Mexican beer, as the current U.S. market is limited to just a few select brews, such as Corona and Tecate.

While most brewing companies are focused on craft beer (which we’ve discussed previously here on our blog), Anheuser-Busch is taking a different approach by aiming towards Mexican imports rather than craft brews.

Now for the bad news: Montejo won’t be available in all parts of the U.S. Anheuser-Busch announced that it will only sell the Mexican import in California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Of course, this only makes sense given the fact that 70% of the nation’s Latino population resides here.

One of the first places to receive the imported Mexican beer was Dodger Stadium. The home of MLB’s L.A. Dodgers received the shipment earlier this month and began selling it on August 15. Anheuser-Busch reportedly signed an exclusive agreement with Dodger Stadium officials, allowing them to sell the Mexican imported beer before it’s released into other markets. In fact, the old “Bud Light bar” was transformed and renamed into the “Montejo bar.” “We’ve partnered with the Dodgers and are converting the Bud Light bar in right field to a Montejo bar,” said Garcia.

Anheuser-Busch has scheduled the full release of Montejo beer for September. Of course, you’ll only be able to get your hands on the Mexican import by visiting one of the select states mentioned above.

Have you tried Montejo? Let us know what what you think of the Mexican beer in the comments section below!