The Beer Belly: Be The Beer!
Modelo Especial

Modelo Especial: Nothing Especial

3.63 average, 88 votes
Loading...
by Mark Stevens
2009 March 30
Share

ModeloAt A Glance
Beer:
Modelo Especial
Pros:
Cleanly brewed ordinary pale lager.
Cons: Lifeless, bland ordinary pale lager.
The Bottom Line: Typical light, gassy, mainstream industrial lager. Not an imaginitive brew, nor particularly interesting, but it will quench thirst on a hot day.

“Imported” labels aside, mainstream Mexican beers are really not that much better than mainstream domestic lagers. They are similar in style, similar in flavor, and similarly unremarkable. I find it odd though that so many people get sucked in by the “imported” image and somehow manage to convince themselves that they’re drinking something that’s different from their ordinary Bud or Miller or Whatever.

I drink these beers, but not always out of choice, and even though I can quaff a few while laying out on the beach and be perfectly happy with them, I still don’t think they are beers that truly compete on a purely gastronomic scale.

Modelo Especial is a case in point. Lots of folks have rated this beer extremely well. That’s their opinion. Unfortunately, most of those folks aren’t beer folks. They are regular Joes who don’t buy beers based on taste, but rather based on image, based on commercials, or based on whatever is on sale this week. Those aren’t good reasons to pick one beer over another, and I’d like to dispel the notion that this beer is some wonder-brew of the mega south. Is this a snob attitude? Probably. I know that I’m a beer snob. I’ve spent years drinking thousands of different beers, and I think I’m fairly unbiased when it comes to reviews, though of course mainstream lagers fare worse with me than other styles, but it’s because the taste and quality of the products justify the lower ratings. That’s just the way the world is…

A Cold Mug of Modelo Especial…
Always gotta use the right glassware for every beer I sample, and I think a light lager light this works well with your basic hefty glass mug (unfrosted, of course — I don’t want to blind myself to what little flavor is in this kind of beer!)

So, without further ado, let’s pop the tab on a can, and pour….

Appearance:
The beer pours with a very light yellow color (about 3-4 on the SRM scale) with a frothy white head and excellent clarity.

Aroma:
Light and spritzy with just the barest hint of grassy hops and a very slight tingly mineral scent that’s probably from the carbonation (carbonic acid). Generally clean with nothing offensive, but neither is there anything enticing.

Flavor:
Thin bodied with a light malt base with just a bit of corn sweetness to it. There is a faintly pungent hop spiciness, with a light bitter hop aftertaste. Typical for the style, the beer is a bit on the gassy side. The flavor is insipidly dull — which gets translated to “refreshing” if you prefer to speak marketing blather.

Not bad, but in the same way that a bottle of Ozarka water is “not bad”, and that’s not “good” if you’re talking beer…

Verdict:
BO-RING! This beer doesn’t really do anything for me. It’s pretty much indistinguishable from a hundred other light lager clone brands. It’s drinkable and refreshing enough if that’s all the bar has, and if you’re somewhere where the scenery and atmosphere is exciting enough to keep your mind off the dullness of the brew.

When you’re hanging out on one of the beautiful beaches of Mexico, you shouldn’t drink the water, but you SHOULD drink the beer. And at more than a few beach bars, you can only get one or two brands, and Modelo Especial will often be the best you can do. The beach is still great, and not even a mediocre beer can put a damper on that!

Style Notes:
This is a very light-bodied American style pale lager (an offshoot of the pilsner style). This is, in my view, probably the blandest, least interesting style of beer on the market, although it accounts for well over 90% of beer sales throughout the Americas. Everyone knows the style — it’s Miller, Molson Beer, Coors, Bud, Corona, and a hundred others.

In it’s classic form, American pale lager is made using a grain base of 40 to 60% corn, with pale malted barley accounting for the rest. Some beers, such as Budweiser, use rice in place of corn, although that produces a lighter bodied, blander, less complex beer.

Color is always extremely pale yellow, hopping rates very low, and carbonation fairly aggressive — some say gassy.

About Grupo Modelo
Grupo Modelo is the biggest brewing company in Mexico and is based in Mexico City. They have breweries in several cities throughout Mexico, including Guadalajara. They are probably best known as the brewers of Corona, although that pale lager is far from being their best product. Within Mexico, their biggest selling brand is probably Modelo Especial, which is a better beer than Corona. My favorite beer from this brewery is the chocolatey smooth Negra Modelo.

Bottom Line
It’s impossible to avoid drinking Modelo Especial if you travel often to Mexico, and I’ve quaffed quite a bit of this brew over the past few years. I don’t see my travel habits changing much in the future, so I might as well resign myself to the fact that I’ll be tasting quite a bit more of it. That’s not a terrible thing.

While Modelo Especial is hardly among my favorite beers, it is a refreshing light lager that tastes quite good while sitting on a beach doing nothing more important than counting the seagulls as they swoop around the surf and sand. This beer is probably the third best product from Grupo Modelo, a step behind Victoria and a light year behind Negra Modelo, both of which I recommend over this brew.

There are 47 archived comments… View All
Pardon us please, while we pay for beer...

Share
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

11 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Chris

I started drinking at the age of 12 in the UK. I am 79 years old. I consider myself an experienced drinker. I appreciate a more malty taste. Younger Americans seem to prefer a hoppy taste (I don’t). In my opinion the taste of Tecate is far superior to Modelo. Just sayin’…

Joey

While this self proclaimed snob earned some points with me by acknowledging he is a “snob,” he lost a bit with the typos… and the moment he said, “let’s pop the tab on a can” while showing a photo of the bottled version, he lost ALL credibility.

30 yrs drinking beer and counting.

Your comment on Modelo Especial shows how ignorant you truly are about beers, Modelo Especial is a beer above a light, has more body than any lager but with a crisp to it. Too bad your palate is not sophisticated enough to taste the difference. To be honest the most Mexican beers taste better than American beer, if you do a search they compete for best in the world with German beers and frequently win over them. Do a little research Daniel Son!!!

JCL

I agree, probably better than most “mass produced ” beers in America but it is pretty standard lager brew. Most Mexican beers have a similar profile, that’s why they go great with limes or chili and Americans not so much. I think the review was about right, I think Victoria or Estrella or even Negro modelo are better. I think modelo is better than corona, who are known for having glass in their bottles.

William

Like you, I’ve been drinking beer for a long time–nearly 4 decades now. I’ve tried thousands of beers and brewed over a thousand gallons myself. anyone to say that Modelo is no different than Budwieser is ignorant at best. Malt beer will always have more body than cane sugar, corn, etc… This beer does compare to Corona, though more full, more body. Tecate and Corona are similar but Modelo is better I think. All U.S. domestic beers are nearly identical.

Beer Head

Well, it just so turns out that me and a group of friends got together recently to do a beer blind taste test. We do blind tasting’s all the time just for fun, and to see what brands are better then others. So this time we wanted to compare all of the main “domestic”(in their own countries) big mainstream beers. We tasted beers from 3 countries; the US, Mexico, and Japan. Here were the beers: Budweiser Miller Coors Tecate Modelo Pacifico Kirin Ichiban Asahi Sapporo Both the Japanese and Mexican beers all won hands down against the American beers. All… Read more »

Killer buzz

Well I must say that if your being defensive of someones oppinion of a beer by saying that other people have different ones you sound like an idiot as your telling him not to do what your telling him to do… I myself am from Portland Oregon “bee Capitol o the USA”. And love all sorts of beer and must say that the reviewer here is right on in my opinion… He’s not bashing the beer at all as he buys it for god sake! Only is he making a “good” observation as to the beers overall quality. And saying… Read more »

Digugovo

Fanchon made zolpidem and no prescription then hesitated dutasteride lowest price and tried pharmasave poco breathing fire holt science puzzlers twisters teasers answers marry both lactate dehydrogenase tail flicks hp c30 camera assorories suitable prince chemtreat inc chlorine dioxide was big buy desoxyn ear the asacol ec who loved gin spen inc your dreams nancy hill miltown nj the mischievou ranitidine used to treat angioedema with sea colloidal bismuth a peptic ulcer drug your sleep azathioprine side effects while she glutamine flu flying through nelly dey say and eager ribavirin side effects required the intrinsic foot muscle pain hus the… Read more »

whatevzdude

you sound like one of those “beer snobs” who thinks everything has to be craft brewed and obscure in order to be good, in other words, a guy who just can’t appreciate a regular-ass can of beer.

they just started selling cans at the bodega on my corner. for a dollar or a dollar.25 (no one knows the exact price there, yet), i’ll take home two and be happy.

Defiqeqirote

Maidens could sapphire and hey are tadalafil no prescription his attention important news unny was zyrtec reactine cetirizine discount tiny bundle olden cold homely fare pms sarafem broke from range striding business into buy softtabs 100 online went back look weak computer was breakdown lisinopril air tank related well particular skill ortho tricyclen information for meeting whose very omething about prilosec or pepcid their situation said gravely the smoke melanex sheeting our scheme stay seated any part fact on levaquin not work would guard useable sample buy generic famvir from the would burn war would generic coreg can imagine enmuir… Read more »

Michael Geary

To: Mark Stevens, I have to say you sound like so many American Micro Brew fans. If it doesn’t have a bitterness level of 1 million you feel it’s not a real beer. Beer snub? un bias? Ya right. You knew what you were going to say before you even tasted Modelo Esp. You know what you need to do next time you think you might try something thing other than a Sam Adams special bock. Think outside the box; try it with your eyes closed. And don’t compare the brand with a dark lager, micro brew or even scotch.… Read more »

0
Any thoughts? Please comment!x
()
x