Mexico

Vienna lager survives in Mexico

Central European brewers emigrating to Mexico carried the Vienna amber lager tradition with them, and it persisted there after largely disappearing in Austria.

1860–1900

Why it matters

The clearest living examples of an Austrian style are Mexican, which is a useful corrective to thinking of styles as fixed to places.

How well this is established

Certainty	Well attested. Broadly agreed across sources, though the precise dating or detail may vary between them.
When	1860–1900. Recorded as a period rather than a date because it happened over time.
Where	Mexico

Styles this shaped

Vienna lager4.5–5.5% ABV
An amber lager built on gently kilned Vienna malt: toasty and lightly sweet, but finishing clean and dry.

Traditions

Vienna and Mexican amber lager — The amber malt-forward lager tradition begun in Vienna in 1841, which survived more strongly in Mexico than in Austria.

Either side of this

← 1842: The first pale bottom-fermented beer is brewed in Plzeň · 1873: Mechanical refrigeration reaches the brewery →

See the whole sequence on the beer history timeline.

Last reviewed 2026-08-16.