Retail Beer and Wine at Lakeside

We spent a good part of last summer at Lakeside and just moved back full-time and it's been interesting to see the changes in what's available in the way of beer and wine.

On the beer front Oxxo just discontinued carrying all the Bohemia products, meaning getting hold of them is going to be a bit of a PITA. Really too bad as I think they're the best of the pretty sorry lot of mass market Mexican beers.
More incentive to support our local microbrews I suppose, though they are (necessarily) pricey.

Vinos Americas in West Ajijic still seems to have the best overall wine selection but it has to be the smallest of their stores I've seen anywhere so choice is limited. It is still the only place with proper storage temperatures and therefore the only one I'd feel comfortable buying wines that aren't from the most recent vintage.

Wal Mart used to be my fallback option as they used to have a passable selection and somewhere up the buying chain employed people who knew how to bring in some high value imports. Of late though the wine section in the local store has been gutted, with only a smattering of the cheapest plonk. The beer selection is marginally better but that isn't saying much. Maybe they just want to sell hard liquor?

I hadn't been in Soriana in many months and was pleasantly surprised to see the store overall much cleaner and brighter than in years past. The wine selection, while it isn't anything earth shattering, is far better than Wal Mart's and the beer as well.

I'd be curious to know if there are any other places people like (other than La Europea in Guad, which has always been the only real choice for connoisseurs but is a serious hike to get to).

La Victoria is the best!

Newcy broon in small bottles in soriana. 25pesos. Bargain.
Indio on draught in che bar top floor above el torito.
Good quaffing beer.
Also the new beer place west of ajijic. But personally i dont like the brews. Too flowery.

The last time I bought Bohemia, it was at Walmart. Did they ax it?

It looks like Wal Mart and Soriana's may be the most reliable places to buy those beers. Weird that that FEMSA brewery, of which the OXXO chain is a wholly-owned subsidiary, would stop carrying its flagship brand in its own stores. Wonder if this means Noche Buena will also only be carried by the supermarkets. Weird.

Bohemia is not owned by FEMSA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuauht%C3%A9moc_Moctezuma_Brewery

BTW, Femsas is the Coca-Cola bottler for most of Latin America. They make no beer.

David wrote:Bohemia is not owned by FEMSA.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuauht%C3%A9moc_Moctezuma_Brewery

Well effectively they still are, mas o menos. They own 20% of Heineken which in turns owns Bohemia and all of the other brands and they were the original owners of Moctezuma. The practical issue for consumers is that only the FEMSA products (and none from arch-rival Corona) are carried at their Oxxo chain, which means that Bohemia fans now have to go to a Wal Mart, Soriana or dedicated deposito to buy Mexico's best mass-market beers. It's a PITA and very odd self-defeating marketing "strategy" to remove your flagship products from their most useful and accessible point of sale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEMSA

David wrote:BTW, Femsas is the Coca-Cola bottler for most of Latin America.  They make no beer.

See the Wikipedia link I posted. They have a major investment in Heineken and a long history with beer.

Like I said, they make no beer.

I watched Vinos Americos weekly delivery truck drop off from Guad. Impressive. They stuff a 1 ton cube van and deliver. The place has no storage. They have some interesting white wines and Mezcals. They have temp. control.
Wally kind of fails in the vino blanco dept. Rum prices are good as Tequila.
Some awesome deals on good Mezcal. Don't know how they do it.
My wife could kill for decent Prosecco or dry prosecco like.
My red wine rant: It's supposed to be served at cellar temp. At home it goes in the fridge for a bit. Everywhere you go it's served at ambient temp. which is 20 degrees to warm, at least. Ask to chill it in a wine bucket and you're a freak. Drinking an uncellared (aircon) red at 80 degrees is a waste of your palate and wallet. Take a sip and all the heated alcohol comes off at once. The taste is compromised immediately. Is it just me? All I would like is 65-70 degree red. Just sayin

borderreiver wrote:I watched Vinos Americos weekly delivery truck drop off from Guad. Impressive. They stuff a 1 ton cube van and deliver. The place has no storage. They have some interesting white wines and Mezcals. They have temp. control.
  Wally kind of fails in the vino blanco dept. Rum prices are good as Tequila.
Some awesome deals on good Mezcal. Don't know how they do it.
  My wife could kill for decent Prosecco or dry prosecco like.
  My red wine rant: It's supposed to be served at cellar temp. At home it goes in the fridge for a bit. Everywhere you go it's served at ambient temp. which is 20 degrees to warm, at least. Ask to chill it in a wine bucket and you're a freak. Drinking an uncellared (aircon) red at 80 degrees is a waste of your palate and wallet. Take a sip and all the heated alcohol comes off at once. The taste is compromised immediately. Is it just me? All I would like is 65-70 degree red. Just sayin

You're quite right of course but being served red wine at 80 degree room temperature when the actual room temp. is the same is going to be the rule rather than the exception in a culture where wine of any sort is an anomaly. I can't think of any Lakeside restaurants that have any sort of temperature-controlled storage for their wines, and on the retail side the best-known place, Vinos y Licores Paz, is a veritable museum of oxidized old wines when it'd be the easiest thing in the world for them to at least install a swamp cooler to avoid cooking their inventory.

No solution on the restaurant side other than bring your own and pay corkage where permitted or as you say asking for the ice bucket, but in terms of buying bottles at retail that's the reason why my personal pecking order is Vinos Americas first, then Soriana and Wal Mart and Paz dead last. For those willing to go into Guad. La Europea at Gallerias (and elsewhere) has a far better selection and prices than all of the above combined, while Costco brings in some home-run values too, especially if you're into the higher-end Spanish wines preferred by the Guad. elite.

Costco beat them all in price. La Europea and Vinos America have the best selection.

Thank you all.

PAZ has Bohemia.

Thanks David. Yes, found it there and of course Wal Mart and Soriana feature it. Just requires a bit more planning.

You can also go to the Cuahtemoc distributor.