Guadalajara Brewery’s Controversial Beer

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A new beer is brewing up controversy in Mexico.

Malverde Beer is named after Jesús Malverde, a Robin Hood-style figure from 19th-century Mexican folklore who is revered by drug smugglers in the western state of Sinaloa.

Historians are unsure whether Jesús Malverde existed in real life. Legend has it he was born in the late 1800s and embarked on a life of crime in Sinaloa, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor during the reign of Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz.

The beer debuted in April and has spread to bars around western Mexico. Its maker plans to sell it in the USA. Civic groups in Sinaloa have criticized the beer, and Wal-Mart of Mexico has refused to stock it.

The beer's maker, the small Minerva Brewery in Guadalajara, donates 1% of its profits to a chapel dedicated to Malverde in the city of Culiacán. The company says the beer is not meant to glamorize the drug trade.

"We're just trying to honor a Mexican legend, that's all," said Jesús Briseño, the brewery's general manager.

Over the decades, admirers began attributing miracles to him and building shrines in Sinaloa, though the Roman Catholic Church rejects the practice.

Briseño said he got the idea for the beer after visiting Malverde's chapel.

It's not Minerva's first publicity stunt. In 2006, the company made headlines when it produced 24,000 bottles of Duff Beer, named after Homer Simpson's favorite brew in the U.S. TV series The Simpsons.

For Malverde Beer, the company designed a green label with pictures of a hops plant and the mustachioed Malverde. The art was meant to look like a comic book, Briseño said.

"It has the look of a Mexican superhero," he said.

The beer itself is a malty, European-style pilsner. Some of the barley is imported from Wisconsin, Briseño said.

At 77 pesos ($7.60) for a six-pack, it is about twice as expensive as other Mexican beers. Briseño said the company markets it mainly to upscale bars that specialize in imports.

The Casa Ley supermarket chain, AM/PM convenience stores and a chain of pharmacies have started selling the brew, he said.

Wal-Mart of Mexico sold some as part of a Minerva Brewery variety pack during a promotion in June, but the chain has refused to carry the brand by itself because of the name, Briseño said.

Minerva sells about 600 cases of the beer a month, up from 400 cases in April. Briseño said the company is registering the brand in the USA and wants to begin exporting Malverde soon.

Recently a Swiss flavorings company approached Minerva about spiking its beer with hemp extract, made from a cousin of marijuana. A few beers in Switzerland contain the flavoring.

Briseño said he nixed the idea.

"Can you imagine if we added that to Malverde?" said Briseño, sniffing a bottle of the pungent extract. "I think that would cross the line."

At the Red Pub in Guadalajara, manager Alejandro Pérez said his customers were divided.

"The people who buy it buy it because of the image," Pérez said. "And the people who don't buy it do it for the same reason."

Across town at the Santa bar, patron Pablo Partida laughed at the label.

It's just a name, just a mascot like Colonel Sanders," he said.