Archive for the 'Modelo' category
Negra Modelo
You can’t order a buritto at a Mexican restaraunt without adding this beer to your tab and, if you do, you are making a HUGE mistake. The Negra Modelo is a staple in “El or Los (fill in the blank)” eateries across the nation and there is good reason for it. This beer pours a deep copper, almost brown hue with no notable sediment. It smells delightfully sweet, malty and with a touch of dark fruit. The taste is oh so clean, crisp and smooth. Despite its dark style, this beer is surprisingly light and exceedingly drinkable. There is a cool, sweet berry likeness associated with the taste that evolves into a malty goodness that all but screams to be enjoyed over and over again. The carbonation presence is more apparent at the front of the mouth and then mellows towards the back. Aftertaste? Is sweet and enjoyable but who cares? Any aftertaste presumed to be there should be covered up by meat, cheese, floured “accoutrement”, sour cream, guac, or any combination there of. The most impressive thing about this beer is it is excellent when paired with any Spanish/Latin style cuisine, but it can also be enjoyed alone. You can’t go wrong with a Negra Modelo on any occasion, and that my friends is an understatement.
Modelo Especial
Sometimes a beer falls through the cracks here at SevenPack – often it’s one of those beers that is so commonplace in the fridge that we simply assume that someone has reviewed it when, in fact, everyone else was assuming the same thing (and you know what happens when you assume, right?). The Modelo beers are just such a phenomenon. You’ll often find both the Especial and the Negra in the fridges here at SevenPack central, primarily because a) it’s pretty good, b) it comes in a sweet bottle, and c) it’s usually on sale for $10.99/12-pack at the Harris Teeter (hey, we can’t drink the expensive stuff EVERY night – just most nights, to the detriment of our checking accounts). Anyway, we’re going to take care of this discrepancy – me on the Especial and Matty on the Negra.
The Especial pours a dark golden color, as is evidenced without even pouring it into a glass, as it handily comes in a clear bottle. There is no noticeable head on the beer, just a thin white coating that is of no major consequence. The aroma of this lager is beer-y, nothing more. It smells like a brewery or a frat house on the morning after. It’s a smell that, until you’re about 18, is disgusting. But, once you realize just what a great thing beer really is, this aroma becomes pretty darn endearing. In the mouth, this is a pretty standard lager, but quite flavorful when compared to other domestic or Mexican varieties. It has a pretty full mouthfeel for a lager, coating the mouth with a crisp, but just slightly viscous liquid. There is a decent beer-y flavor here – akin to what you’d expect from any other lager (even a bit Pilsnerish). The characteristic that I like about this beer is that it adds a bit of sweetness to the mix. The sweetness is refined and simple – almost just like someone added a packet of Splenda to the beer. I know, it sounds a little weird, but this sweetness takes the edge off the inevitable sour off-flavor that can occasionally throw a lager off-kilter. This sweetness is especially evidenced towards the back of the tongue and then into the aftertaste, leaving a relatively clean feel to the mouth while retaining flavor for a few seconds after the beer is gone. Overall, I think this is a great lager for the money. Between this and Moosehead, you’ll see a fair amount of my economical-lager-fund spent. However, I must admit, you’ll want to drink it pretty cold, as it doesn’t stand up well to loss of carbonation and room temperature. But, then again, what lager really does taste good warm and flat? I can’t think of any…
