Beer Tasting, Round 2: Negra Modelo and Laguna Baja
In Round 2 of my project to reassess what beers I like best by conducting new taste tests I picked two beers that turned out to be very similar, Negra Modelo and Laguna Baja. It's not my intention to run this taste test like a knockout bracket; but once I picked North Coast Brewing's Laguna Baja as "Beer A" I felt I had to select its closest competitor, Negra Modelo, as "Beer B". Plus, both were on sale. 🍻
I grabbed Laguna Baja when I saw it on the shelf a few weeks ago because it's uncommon. I first encountered it on a visit to the North Coast Brewing Company's beer-pub in Fort Bragg, California, 18 months ago. (They hadn't yet created it when I stopped in for my infamous 14-beer lunch in 2016.) I liked when I had a glass with dinner but didn't buy any bottles to take home because my local store sold it (I checked online). I didn't have any more room in the trunk anyway with all the other beer I bought. 😅 Well, the local stores soon sold out and didn't restock it regularly, so I didn't see it again until our next road trip through Fort Bragg. Thus when my local Total Wine store had it recently I grabbed a six-pack.
Laguna Baja is a Vienna Lager in the Mexican style. That means it's an amber lager, aka dark lager. "It's a lot like Negra Modelo," the beertender in Fort Bragg told me when I first saw it. That's why when I grabbed a six-pack of it for my taste test recently I knew I pretty much had to grab some Negra Model to taste alongside it.
Negra Modelo- or Modelo Negra as the Mexican brewer seems to call it now- describes itself as a Munich Dunkel-style Lager, "medium-bodied, with a smooth, caramel taste." It's been a go-to pick of mine in Mexican restaurants for years. It's a good all-around beer with a taste that's just strong enough to stand up to spicy food while also light enough to be enjoyed on its own.
How did the two beers compare? Surprisingly similar.
If North Coast's objective was to copy Negra Modelo, they succeeded. I tasted the beers one then the other, then in the other order, and both with and without food. I could not tell them apart by their flavor or color.
If there's a winner for this round it's Negra Modelo. That's because while I like to support microbreweries for their innovation, North Coast has merely copied a macrobrew. Copied it to the point that the two beers are indistinguishable once poured in a glass. And that macrobrew, Negra Modelo, is a lot cheaper. It's $10 for a six-pack of Laguna Baja but only $14 for a 12-pack of Negra Modelo. ¡Viva México!
I grabbed Laguna Baja when I saw it on the shelf a few weeks ago because it's uncommon. I first encountered it on a visit to the North Coast Brewing Company's beer-pub in Fort Bragg, California, 18 months ago. (They hadn't yet created it when I stopped in for my infamous 14-beer lunch in 2016.) I liked when I had a glass with dinner but didn't buy any bottles to take home because my local store sold it (I checked online). I didn't have any more room in the trunk anyway with all the other beer I bought. 😅 Well, the local stores soon sold out and didn't restock it regularly, so I didn't see it again until our next road trip through Fort Bragg. Thus when my local Total Wine store had it recently I grabbed a six-pack.
Laguna Baja is a Vienna Lager in the Mexican style. That means it's an amber lager, aka dark lager. "It's a lot like Negra Modelo," the beertender in Fort Bragg told me when I first saw it. That's why when I grabbed a six-pack of it for my taste test recently I knew I pretty much had to grab some Negra Model to taste alongside it.
Negra Modelo- or Modelo Negra as the Mexican brewer seems to call it now- describes itself as a Munich Dunkel-style Lager, "medium-bodied, with a smooth, caramel taste." It's been a go-to pick of mine in Mexican restaurants for years. It's a good all-around beer with a taste that's just strong enough to stand up to spicy food while also light enough to be enjoyed on its own.
How did the two beers compare? Surprisingly similar.
If North Coast's objective was to copy Negra Modelo, they succeeded. I tasted the beers one then the other, then in the other order, and both with and without food. I could not tell them apart by their flavor or color.
If there's a winner for this round it's Negra Modelo. That's because while I like to support microbreweries for their innovation, North Coast has merely copied a macrobrew. Copied it to the point that the two beers are indistinguishable once poured in a glass. And that macrobrew, Negra Modelo, is a lot cheaper. It's $10 for a six-pack of Laguna Baja but only $14 for a 12-pack of Negra Modelo. ¡Viva México!