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Top US light beer import spurned at home

"We look at light with a certain amount of distrust. Those who drink beer, drink beer -- not something seen as less than a normal beer."

Mauricio Brocado, Deutsche-Ixe analyst

Mexico's Corona Light is the most popular imported light beer in the US, but you can't get it south of the border, where beer drinkers order their brews in pairs and rarely reach for low-calorie alternatives.

In a Mexico City cantina, real estate broker Omar Vazquez was drinking Coronas -- regular ones.

"I've had thousands of beers, but light beer? I've tried it maybe three or four times," said Vazquez, who at 73 said he had been a beer drinker for nearly six decades. "It's something you drink if you there are no other options: the beer of last resort."

Mauricio Brocado, a Mexico City analyst who tracks Mexican brewers for brokerage firm Deutsche-Ixe, said light beer accounts for less than 2 percent of the country's US$3 billion domestic beer market. At the same time, Corona Light had US$47 million in US sales in the first half of this year, up 9 percent from a year earlier, said Bump Williams of Information Resources Inc, an international marketing researcher.

Mexico's biggest brewers -- Corona's manufacturer, Grupo Modelo, and the brewing unit of bottler Fomento Economico Mexicano, or FEMSA -- are trying to convert more Mexicans into light beer drinkers, with ad campaigns that give the brew a sharper, edgier image and that convey the idea that less really is more.

It's quite a challenge. Demand for light beer is so minuscule that Corona Light -- the 14th best-selling beer in the US and among America's fastest-growing imported brews, according to Williams -- is produced for export only. Mexico's best-selling light beers are Modelo Light and FEMSA's Tecate Light.

"We look at light with a certain amount of distrust," Brocado said. "Those who drink beer, drink beer -- not something seen as less than a normal beer."

While mainly a US phenomenon, light beer is also popular in Canada, Australia and parts of Asia. Low- and zero-carbohydrate beer is brewed in Germany but is mainly for diabetics.

Brewers are dealing with the same marketing issues that American beer makers had decades ago, when they were struggling to get consumers to try it. Light beer was seen by many as a watered-down alternative until the early 1980s, when Miller Lite used sports stars to create popular "Tastes Great! Less Filling!" ads.

"That convinced guys it was OK to drink light," said Julie Bradford, editor of All About Beer magazine.

American trends usually catch on in Mexico, albeit sometimes years or decades later. "We are expecting to see light beer sales increase because of the popularity in the US, (but) only a little bit at a time," Brocado said.

Near the US border, light beer does enjoys stronger sales, with up to 15 percent of the brew market in some cities. But being so close to America is definitely a factor.

"The category of beer is highly associated with a more American style of life," FEMSA said.

Grupo Modelo and FEMSA say an evolving Mexican market, including fitness trends, also made it impossible to ignore light beers.

"The consumer is demanding a low-calorie beer, and we are responding," said Jose Pares, a spokesman for Grupo Modelo.

The No. 1 US beer, Bud Light, is available in Mexico because St. Louis-based Anheuser Busch holds a 50 percent equity stake in Grupo Modelo. But Budweiser and Bud Light combined account for only one-third of the 2 percent share of Mexico's imported beer market, Brocado said.
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