This was an obvious beer choice for the holiday. I always feel a little bamboozled, though, when I go on Beer Advocate for a so-called Mexican Lager and see that it is labeled as an "American Adjunct Lager." It's true—there is no certifiable difference between Tecate and Miller Lite. But there always seems to be, right? I tried to find an answer today, researching why "Mexican beer" tastes different than standard American beer, but it's really hard to find an answer when there's a problem with the question. They are not different.
We're just told that they are different by marketing departments, and that shit works. I needed a Tecate today with our taco dinner; it just makes sense. I get it. I'm not going to be a snob about it. I understand the need for marketing. I understand that this very average beer would not be sold in the quantities it currently is if it was "the cool cheap Mexican beer at dive bars" or whatever. I drank a cheap, light beer with tacos on a Mexican holiday, so where's the harm?
P.S.—some holiday, right? Americans celebrate a Mexican Army's victory in a 19th century battle against the French by drinking lots of cheap beer and eating Taco Bell and sometimes culturally appropriating. However, all drinkers know that, regardless of how flimsy the reasons behind it, Cinco de Mayo is a certified Drinking Holiday. Pam and I were talking about this tonight: When viewed only in the context of drinking (i.e. what you drink, where you drink, with whom you drink, how you drink), what are the best holidays? Let's do a quick off-the-cuff ranking here.
12. St. Valentine's Day — whisky dick
11. New Year's Eve — I've had plenty of fun NYEs. I've had just as many busts. The expectations for this holiday are always sky-high, and are never reached. No one likes forced fun times.
10. Easter — This is calm family holiday, one built for having a few beers, not going crazy.
9. Cinco de Mayo — I think the issue is that colleges are always dismissed right before 5/5, so we never partied on this holiday during our prime party years
8. Thanksgiving — Like Easter, it's not built for parties. Plus, it was my friends' and my tradition to make the day before and the day after Thanksgiving two of the drunkest nights of the year, meaning that Thanksgiving itself was a sober recovery buffer.
7. Christmas — I am fearful of the day when I will have to calm down on Christmas Eve so that I can clandestinely get all of Santa's gifts under the tree after bedtime.
6. Father's Day — Ranked high but only hypothetically. There's no other day throughout the year (not even my birthday) when I can pull rank and request to drink a little more than I would normally. We'll see if that actually happens this year.
5. Halloween —We had our fun with the triplicate of Halloween bangers, but that was before now we are going to be entering the years when we walk the kids around to get candy with red solo cup in our hands... but I'm not quite there yet.
4. Fourth of July — SUMMER!
3. St. Patrick's Day — Everyone is Fake Irish for a day. This is a holiday that leans into the alcoholism of an entire culture. It's a real nice day to drink.
2. New Year's Day — Fuck New Year's Eve, the next day is where the real party is at. Though this is coming from someone who always finds his sweet spot drinking through a hangover at breakfast. That's how the epic days happen (ya know, back in the day, when I used to party...).
1. Memorial Day (weekend) — There is something so fucking special about the holiday that officially kicks off the best season of the year. Even though summer is no longer "summer freedom" as we used to know it, I can still get a whiff of those times gone by every Memorial Day Weekend.
NOTES
BEER: Tecate
GENRE: American Adjunct Lager
ABV: 4.5%
BREWED BY: Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, S.A. de C.V.
LOCATION: Monterrey, Mexico
PURCHASED AT: Nemi
PAIRED WITH: Turkey tacos (was supposed to be fish tacos, but Lidl was extremely sparse with their meats and seafoods this week)
GRADE: 3.5 pukes out of 5
BEER COUNT: 182
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