Viva Cerveza! New extra-cold brews entice Hispanic beer-lovers

September 16, 2007
By THOMAS S. BROWN

A new "cold war" is raging as Floridians sweat through another stifling summer. What's at stake? The mouths and wallets of Latino beer drinkers.

Three major brewing companies have introduced new packaging methods and spiced beer blends in recent months, all aimed at persuading Hispanic consumers their own particular brand is best for a super-cold brew with a Latin twist.

And if curious Anglos want to try out the novelties, so much the better.

The new containers using an icy theme include Coors bottles with labels that turn blue at 42 degrees or lower and Budweiser's "chill chambers," special refrigerators that can cool aluminum and plastic bottles to as low as 22 degrees without turning the beer into icy chunks.

In the taste arena, both Miller Brewing and Anheuser-Busch are trying to give light lager beers with German roots a Mexican accent. Miller has rolled out Miller Chill, a light beer that includes a trace of lime and a salty tang, while Budweiser has countered with Chelada, a blend of tomato and clam juice with beer.

All of this tickles the taste buds of Rafael Ramirez, a Puerto Rican-born businessman who heads East Coast Community Bank.

While the brewers may be stereotyping Hispanic people as temperature-obsessed, it's a stereotype that contains a degree of truth, the Ormond Beach banker said.

"Beer is something that people in Puerto Rico keep really, really cold," Ramirez said. "I will not drink beer in bars because it's never cold enough for my taste. At home, I put my beer in the freezer and then take it out just before it freezes."

Although Ramirez describes himself as mainly a rum drinker, he said he's tried out Bud's Chelada and Miller Chill and likes both experiments.

"Chelada is sort of like a bloody Mary with a beer taste," he said. "I think it's something that Spanish people will really go for. That thing that Miller is doing with the lime should do well, too."

If Ramirez is correct, the niche products should help both brewers pump up their sales, which have lagged in recent years as U.S. beer drinkers turn increasingly toward imported brands and craft beers to quench their thirst.

About 41 million Hispanic consumers on the mainland of the United States make up about 14 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census.

Coors, meanwhile, is relying on bottle labels, rather than what's inside, to catch the eye of both Hispanics and non-Hispanics alike.

Its thermal-sensitive labels, which uses Coors' logo of a mountain range, turn the mountains a blue color when the beer temperature meets a standard of 42 degrees or lower. If the beer is warm, the mountains turn white.

Kim Devigil, a Coors spokeswoman at the company's headquarters in Golden, Colo., said the company conducted man-on-the-street interviews and assembled focus groups to hone in on Latino preferences in beer.

"One of the things we found was that, more so than with any other group, our message about cold really resonated with Latinos," she said. "It was very important to them. They would go to many lengths to ensure they would have a cold beer."

You don't have to be Hispanic to like a cold beer, of course. Devigil said the temperature-coded labeling also have proven popular with the wider public.

"You can put your fingers on the label and see it change color," she said. "It's kind of a cool thing to do."

At the FreshCo International Supermarket, an Orange City outlet that pulls in customers of all ethnic groups, manager Sully Bermudez said the labeling feature has created a buzz among customers.

"It makes a 100 percent difference in sales because customers like to see it change," Bermudez said. "Coors has been selling pretty good with our Hispanic customers."

Rabbit Burns, a customer who browsed the store's beer cooler on a recent Friday afternoon, said he normally drinks Bud Light but has paused at times to check out a Coors label's color.

Ponty Chanthavong, an assistant sales manager for S.R. Perrott, an Ormond Beach Coors' distributor, credited the label with helping Coors gain some ground against the made-in-Mexico Corona brand. He said most Hispanic customers prefer to buy their beer pre-chilled and appreciate having a label that signals when the beer is cold enough to drink.

However, Budweiser isn't ready to concede any of the Latino market either to Coors or Corona, said Kevin Bowler, president of Daytona Beverages, a Budweiser distributor. He said the chill chambers, which keep a beer in the "cold" range for 17 minutes longer after it's opened than a conventional beer cooler, are pushing up sales at stores catering to Mexican workers, such as the Country Cooler in Bunnell.

And the new Chelada brand is doing well at Publix, 7-Eleven and other major outlets, he added.

At Los Amigos, a Mexican restaurant in Ormond Beach, owner Mefi Lemus said Corona remains the restaurant's most popular brand, followed by Miller Lite. He said he hadn't heard about Coors' special labeling or the new spiced beers.

Corona has enjoyed strong sales growth in recent years, overtaking Heineken as Americans' favorite import, said Julie Johnson Bradford, editor of All About Beer, a Durham, N.C.-based publication for beer enthusiasts.

"To me, the irony is that both Corona and Heineken are basically the same style of beer," she said. "I'm surprised at the cachet that Corona carries. It's got to be its badge (as a trendy beer) that explains it."

From the point of view of a beer connoisseur, Bradford said, the new Mexican-oriented beers from Miller and Anheuser-Busch are not especially remarkable. But they may turn out to be commercial successes anyway, she added.

"Miller Chill is the biggest beer event of the year," she said. "It seems it has appeal beyond just its own niche market."

Bradford said she hopes such experiments lead to more daring tests, such as U.S. versions of Mexico's various "Christmas beers."

"It would be wonderful to have them in our market. They're a little maltier and sweeter," she said "But I suspect they won't be here for a while."

Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal