Cinco de Maybe Not: Do craft brewers ignore Hispanics?

April 20, 2017
By Peter Rowe

Beyond Cinco de Mayo

Do not adjust your calendar. This is not May 5, Cinco de Mayo, yet Gerry Loredo insists it’s time to talk about the Hispanic beer market.

This is a topic near and dear to Loredo’s heart and livelihood. He’s director of business analytics for Houston’s Lopez Negrete Communications.

While studying the relationship between Hispanics and craft beer, he arrived at two conclusions that don’t quite add up.

1. “Hispanics like to drink beer and they like to drink strong flavored beer,” Loredo said.

2. “You’d think from a product standpoint, craft beer is a good match. But there’s a barrier there,” he said.

Brewers large and small target this audience on Cinco de Mayo — and tend to ignore them the other 364 days of the year.

Perhaps U.S. brewers figure there is little to be gained here. After all, Loredo noted that Hispanic consumers are less likely to drink American beer than the average American, and more likely to buy imports.

“And not just Mexican imports,” he said. “It’s also the big European brands as well. It’s not just a cultural thing. It’s a taste and strength of beer thing as well.”

It can be difficult to introduce Hispanics to craft beer, when craft brewers pride themselves on not advertising. The few who dabble in commercials usually overlook Spanish-language broadcasts and publications.

To woo Hispanic drinkers, some brewers have rolled out specialty beers such as AleSmith’s Mexican Speedway Stout, a potent brew that featured Mexican coffee and cinnamon and was aged in tequila barrels.

And there’s always May 5, right?

“Cinco de Mayo has become like St. Patrick’s Day. It’s almost become just a big drinking day,” Loredo said. “If you want to reach out to Hispanics, you would want to have something that is more ongoing.”


Source: San Diego Tribune