I'm not a beer drinker, but it nevertheless concerned me over the past couple of years that American beer companies were offering knockoffs of the michelada, that classic Mexican cerveza cocktail of beer, salt, lime, some hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Not that I was opposed to conglomerates bothering with Mexican anything–if it's good, it's good. But when you have Miller Lite and Bud calling their products “Chill” or “Lime,” you know the product you're going to taste is rather vile.
Thankfully, the American consumer caught on to the ruse, as Miller just announced it's discontinuing its michelada knockoff, and sales of Bud's version are plummeting.
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Advertising Age has the full story, detailing how the brands' parents companies took a wash on their inferior products in the eternal quest for the Mexican dollar.
That doesn't mean the michelada trend is over among gabacho consumers, though: the cocktail is increasingly popping up in listicles, and Modelo just announced they're going to offer their own michelada drink. Will major Mexican beer companies also screw up this most humble of cocktails? We shall see…
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