There was a Negra Modelo ad with Rick Bayless in it and in the ad he called the beer a "Munich-Dunkel Style Lager". Originally I thought they referred to it as a Vienna Lager. I believe Modelo refers to Victoria as a Vienna Lager now.
Destined to become an extinct style, it took some political upheaval halfway across the world to serendipitously revive the Vienna style in a newly-imagined, adjunct-laden take on the style commonly known as Mexican lager.
By the late 19th century, immigration to the United States had grown significantly with Europeans drawn by the freedoms and opportunities offered in the New World. The decline of the Austrian empire and its rebirth as a dual monarchy consisting of co-equal Austrian and Hungarian states in 1867 contributed to an exodus of people from the region. The French Intervention in Mexico resulted in the Archduke of Austria, Ferdinand Maximilian Josef Habsburg, being installed as emperor and opened a second front of Austrian immigrants to Central America.
Some of those leaving Austria were the very brewers that contributed to the history of Vienna-style beers. Many settled in the American Southwest and Mexico looking to employ their brewing traditions in an area devoid of an established brewing culture as found in the more developed areas of the United States East Coast. These immigrant brewers attempted to recreate their beloved beer styles in this new, warmer climate but without much success. Lacking an abundance of natural ice, especially in the Southwest United States, lager beer quality suffered until refrigeration became more widespread in the 1880s.
Santiago Graf, an immigrant brewer, founded a brewery in the hills of Toluca, Mexico. Realizing the futility of employing lager brewing practices, he settled on creating beers with top fermenting ale yeast. This process resulted in the first quality beers produced in the southwest. Eventually, Graf invested in an absorption ice machine that he imported from Germany to focus on creating lagers, including a reinterpretation of the Vienna style, in the New World.
Much like Anton Dreher, Graf believed in using the finest quality ingredients in the production of his beers. Forgoing American hops due to their reputation for harsh flavors, he imported his hops and malts from Europe. His use of high-quality ingredients coupled with modern refrigeration yielded lagers that Mexico had not experienced before and they quickly became popular.
Graf is credited with incorporating a small amount of black malt in his Vienna lagers, resulting in a version on the darker end of the style’s spectrum. Modern day Mexican versions have become lighter and sweeter due to the increased use of adjuncts in the grist. It is likely adjunct usage was incorporated into these modern versions as both a cost savings and method to increase drinkability.
Popular Mexican examples include Negra Modelo Lager, Victoria, and Dos Equis Amber.
https://byo.com/article/vienna-lager-brewing-the-austrian-beer-style-rescued-by-mexico/
Topic: Vienna lager (Read 15167 times)
