Cervecería de Colima - "Colimita" lager

Hot, humid weather calls for light, refreshing beverages, and recently the market has trended towards two types of such libations - hard seltzer, and Mexican-style lagers. I'm not touching the former, and for the latter, most international audiences think Pacifico, Modelo, and Corona, all made by Grupo Modelo - owned by the multinational conglomerate (and enemy of craft brewers), Anheuser-Busch InBev. Domestically, breweries like Flying Dog and Vasen make their own takes on the Mexican lager, but you don't hear much (yet) about true craft beer from south of the border as the export market is typically dominated by the aforementioned big guys. But like so many countries these days, smaller breweries are competing more and more for market share, so it makes sense that we're starting to see some small-batch craft stuff making its way north of the Rio Grande.

I'll admit that I was initially attracted to today's beer due to the can design - a very slim 12oz can reminiscent of cold-brew or basic-white-girl seltzer. The clean, elegant appearance was certainly enough to get my attention.

This one, made by Cervecería de Colima in Colima state, southwest Mexico, is a 4.20% lager. Not much else to say about what's in the can - pretty straightforward with no special malts, or funky ingredients, or bizarre strains of hops.

Pours a light golden color, and generates a puffy white head. Makes sense, not much surprising.

With a super clean and soft presentation, this lager is delicious. It's slightly sweet, with a touch of breadiness and honey on the finish, but overall a very soft lager, almost bordering on bland. But that's kind of the point, right? Here, there's no hops, and not nearly as much malty sweetness as you get with other Mexican beers (including Pacifico, which I happen to like). The clean presentation makes this a perfect hot-day beer and something that you can totally drink all day at a (socially-distant) barbeque or on the rooftop. And at $11 for 6, a great value. It's a limited release, as I'm told, so definitely grab a sixer if you see it. It's worth it for sure! They also make an American pale ale, which just hit our store so I'll have to check that out as well.