*From time to time I like to post information on this website that I am certaint no one will read, however it helps me personally to keep track of the random information that I come across.**As well, living here in Austria, I try to pull out some really great things about this country's history, other than that of the Hitler regime we all know well of. I also try to draw comparissons from Austria, to my own culture or life experiences, and being that today is "Cinco de Mayo", I wanted to see if there was any connection with Austria. It might sound odd, but I came across some information that proves Austria had a great deal to do with the celebratory events surrounding Cinco de Mayo (at least in America). I found an article that I reference throughout, but I've some personal changes to the article to make it more interesting to my audience.
What would Cinco de Mayo be without Austria?
How Austrian influence has made our Cinco de Mayo celebrations just that much more enjoyable!
If you have not yet had the unique pleasure of tasting Negra Modelo, than you should pick some up this Cinco de Mayo. Negra Modelo is a thick, dark ale; its base of caramelized grains gives it a rich fruitiness that make it perfect as an accompaniment to peppery foods. I learned, further, that Negra Modelo owes its original inspiration not to anything home-grown Mexican, but to Austria. "Austria?" you exclaim. "What does Mexican beer have to do with the land that gave us Strauss, Waltzes, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, or our current Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger?" The historical connection is almost as complex as the beer itself.
Mexican Beer History 101A:
Beer has been brewed in Mexico for hundreds of years, stretching back several centuries before Europeans even discovered the area. In days gone by, Mayans and Aztecs used to brew beer from fermented corn stalks or sprouted maize. The brewing industry in Mexico really didn't flourish and develop until the reign of Austrian Emperor Maximilian (1864-1867; installed as Emperor of Mexico by France's Napoleon III). During Maximilian's brief reign, German brewing techniques were introduced and Mexico started brewing malty, dark beers that were similar to those brewed in Maximilian's home of Vienna, Austria.
Negra Modelo Dark Ale is one of the few dark beers brewed in Mexico today. The Beer, Negra Modelo, literally means "black model." It isn't exactly a black beer, though. This 5.3% alcohol by volume brew pours with a deep brown, almost nutty color and produces a short beige head, Carbonation levels are moderate. This medium-bodied beer is something of a hybrid... like a blend of a spicy amber ale from Vienna, Austria, and a dark lager from Munich, Germany. The nose features some spicy fruit aromas, and a hint of chocolate. In the taste, this beer features some soft, spicy plum tones, some citric tones, and a good hop finish. Today, this beer is brewed by Cerveceria Modelo, S.A., one of Mexico's largest brewers. Based in Mexico City, it also owns the largest brewing facility in the entire country. It also produces some other popular beer brands, including: Corona Extra and Dos Equis (Both Vienna-style lagers).
Mexican Beer History 101B:
About the time of the American Civil War, Mexico was forced to default on huge debts it owed to France. Using the default as an excuse to build an empire, French Emperor Louis Napoleon sent troops to Mexico and set up his cousin Archduke Maximilian of Austria as ruler of the country. It's a long story, but basically Maximilian was eventually defeated, and executed, by forces under Benito Juarez, however the Austrian connection and significant Austrian immigration to Mexico continued.
The history that we are all familar with is the blip in the long Franco-Mexican struggle which was known as the Battle of Puebla where on the Fifth of May, 1862, Mexican forces under General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin defeated a larger French force and temporarily checked the French advance. Until recently Cinco De Mayo was celebrated primarily in the Mexican state of Puebla (the real Mexican National Independence Day is September 16, commemorating the country's break with Spain in 1821). Of late, however, Cinco De Mayo has become the occasion for American promoters to sell a great quantity of—you guessed it—beer.
Back in nineteenth century Vienna, a new style of beer called Marzen was introduced, after the German word for the month of March (März), which during that time created real waves. These were strong beers, aged in alpine caves for months longer than traditional lagers; the use of ale yeasts resulted in higher concentrations of esters and hence richer flavors. The beer style rode piggyback with Austrian immigrants to Mexico where it thrived among a host of watery competitors. The original Negra Modelo people were one of the last to make the jump; they were refugees from that somewhat-less-than-jolly Austrian, Adolf Hitler, in the late 1930s. While not quite as strong as the original Austrian Marzen beers, since it also has some German influence, Negra Modelo owes a tangible debt to the original Austrian style (now called oscura, in Spanish). Ironically, true Marzen beer no longer exists in Austria.
The other beer, widely celebrated in America during Cinco de Mayo is the ubiquitous Corona, which a few years ago supplanted Heineken as the number one imported beer in the United States. As you may or may not be aware, most beers in Mexico are brewed for hot weather consumption; they are light (in terms of color, hops, malt sweetness, and flavor), quench thirst well, and go down easy. American breweries have perfected the manufacture of these taste-alike, soda-pop style lagers, but Corona, backed by huge advertising and promotional campaigns, which include the exploitation of Cinco De Mayo, has managed to connect to a beach and vacation mystique. American beer purists almost never add limes to their beer, but if Corona is the only choice, you might reach for the citrus to mask Corona's formaldehyde flavor. Though Corona is as light as a lager can truly get, Corona Light has also begun to capture market share. Corona Light may require two limes instead of one to compensate for its mass-produced astringency. Corona's clear bottles may beautifully highlight the "beach for spring break" artwork, but they also allow light into the beer, which does nothing to improve its keeping power.
On another somewhat unrelated note...
Cinco de Mayo for me is one of the great celebrations in American that I'll have to miss while being here in Austria. And, not to put a damper on the festivities, but Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that is in fact more beloved by Americans than Mexicans. "I couldn't get over how it was a big holiday on one side of the border, the American side," commented a mystified Mexican student studying in El Paso who's quote I found on the internet. One American traveler, after spending a lackluster Cinco de Mayo in central Mexico, learned from a shopkeeper that it was just "a gringo holiday made to sell Mexican beer to Americans."
So why is the holiday a subdued event in its country of origin, while Americans are donning sombreros? One theory is that Cinco de Mayo, first brought to the U.S. by Mexican immigrants during the 1920s, grew in importance when the 1960s Chicano movement adopted the holiday as an avenue for generating ethnic pride. Its political purpose gradually diminished, thereby opening the holiday up to a wider Mexican-American population, and finally to mainstream America via advertising. Beer and cigarette companies manufactured rowdy Cinco de Mayo fetes that invite comparison to another piggy-backed celebration, that of St. Patrick's Day.
A great majority of the historical and beer ingredient facts were taken from the article entitled; "Can the Corona for Your Cinco de Mayo Party"
: by Elliot Essman
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