These Mexican cervezas don't impress me much

I sampled two imported Mexican beers for the first time over the past week, and I wasn’t overly impressed by either one (although one was much better than the other).

The two beers were Cerveza Pacifico Clara (more commonly referred to as Pacifico) and Carta Blanca. I bought both beers at Lee’s Quick Stop on the Monroe-Conecuh County line.

Carta Blanca was my least favorite of the two beers. Its taste was very different than most beers that I am accustomed to, and it had a strong wine quality to it that I didn’t care for.

Brewed by the Cuauhtemoc-Moctezuma Brewery in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon in Mexico, Carta Blanca is the brewery’s original premium beer. (This brewery, which is owned by Heineken International, is probably best known for producing Tecate and Dos Equis.)

My first clue as the quality of this beer should have been the layer of dust on each bottle that was in the six pack I bought. My second clue was the fact that I actually had to force myself to finish these beers. I operate under a strict “waste-not, want-not” policy, and it took an act of will to force myself to drink all of these beers over the course of several days.

Each 12-ounce bottle of Carta Blanca contains four percent alcohol by volume and 128 calories.

Who knows? Maybe it’s just me, but I give this beer a C-. For more information about Carta Blanca, visit the brewery’s Web site at www.cuamoc.com.

The other beer, Pacifico, was much better and was more in line with domestic and European beers. A Mexican pilsner-style beer, Pacifico was first brewed in 1900 by three Germans who founded the brewery, Cerveceria del Pacifico in Mazatlan, Mexico, which is a port on the Pacific Ocean (hence the name of the beer).

Each 12-ounce bottle contains 4.5 percent alcohol by volume and 146 calories.

Comparitively speaking, Pacifico was a tasty beer, and I’d have no qualms about drinking it again. Gradewise, I give it a solid B. For more information about Pacifico, visit its Web site at www.pacificoclara.com.

In the end, I’d be interested to know how many of you out there have tried either one of these beers. What did you think about them? Did you like them? Hate them? Let us know in the comments section below.