ORDERS UP FOR CERVEZA; NATION'S BEER DRINKERS EMBRACING MEXICAN IMPORTS.

Byline: Jon Bigness Chicago Tribune 

Not that long ago, sales of Corona Extra and Budweiser at El Jardin's Fiesta Cantina in Wrigleyville, Ill. ran bottleneck and neck.

But after the Mexican-theme dance club introduced a Thursday ``salsa night,'' the predominantly Latino crowd helped Corona dethrone Budweiser as the reigning king of beers.

``Within the last two years, Corona just took off,'' said El Jardin's promotions manager, Danny Arias, who estimates the club sells 10 times more Corona than Bud during winter months.

It's as clear as Corona's signature long-neck bottle that la cerveza fria de Mejico has become muy caliente in America, making Mexican imports the fastest-growing category in a beer business that has gone flat. And Corona isn't the only Mexican brew with gusto today.

Beer drinkers of every stripe are embracing all Mexican imports, sending sales for Tecate, Modelo Especial, Dos Equis Amber and other south-of-the-border brands surging 20 percent or more in the past year.

For the big U.S. brewers, the boom in Mexican imports signals a wake-up call. Miller Brewing Co. executives say the Latino market is growing fast enough for everybody to tap into. It has actually increased its share of the Latino market through targeted promotions and advertising tied into its core Lite and Genuine Draft brands. Anheuser-Busch Co.'s Budweiser and Bud Light still rank as the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 brands, respectively, but the brewery giant's nervous enough about Mexican imports to launch several Mexican-style ales of its own.

But it's Corona that wears the crown among Mexican brands. The light-tasting brew rebounded from bad publicity a decade ago to knock Heineken from its longtime roost as the No. 1 import in 1997. Corona is estimated to widen its lead in 1998 with a phenomenal 40 percent increase in sales, according to beer industry data. Heineken sales for the past year are expected to rise less than 8 percent.

``We're seeing a cultural impact from the rising Latino population in the United States,'' said Tom Pirko, president of beverage industry consulting firm Bevmark LLC. ``There's more appreciation of Mexican food, drinking Mexican beer and there are more (Spanish) words in our language.''

Latinos have become a crucial market for major breweries. Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and other groups currently represent about 11 percent of the nation's total population of more than 270 million people, according to the Census Bureau. And it's growing so fast that by 2010, one in every five U.S. residents is expected to be of Latin American descent.

And Corona is becoming the community's beer of choice. Bill Hackett, president of Chicago-based Barton Beers Ltd., which distributes Corona primarily west of the Mississippi River, estimates that Latinos now make up between 30 percent and 35 percent of total sales.

Price used to be a consideration, too. But today, a case of Corona costs $20.99 - exactly the same as Heineken, Amstel and Labatt's, according to Zimmerman's Liquors in Chicago. That's still less expensive than a case of Guiness Stout, at $25.99, and Beck's, at $22.95, and other Mexican brands are cheaper still. Modelo goes for $20.50 a case, Tecate for $19.95 and Pacifico for $18.99.

The revival of Corona, which is brewed in Mexico by Grupo Modelo SA and distributed in the United States by Barton Beers and Gambrinus Co. in San Antonio, has sparked U.S. beer giants to launch Mexican-style beers of their own or punch up marketing efforts of their existing brands in Latino neighborhoods.

Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis has unleashed a variety of Mexican beers priced to compete with Corona. It sells Mexican-made Azteca in California, a domestic-brewed brand called Tequiza in New York and the Southwest and Brazilian-crafted Rio Cristal in southern Florida and Virginia. Anheuser is in a way competing against itself, having accumulated a 50.2 percent noncontrolling stake in Grupo Modelo since first investing in the Mexico City brewer in 1993.

Miller Brewing decided to attack the Latino market on its own terms. The Milwaukee-based unit of Philip Morris Cos. has boosted its advertising, marketing and promotion of its Lite and Miller Genuine Draft brands, especially in Texas and California. It hopes to appeal to both ``Americanized'' and traditional Latinos using the same artsy black-and-white images in English- and Spanish-speaking media.

Tequila & lime in new brew

ST. LOUIS - Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. has combined the flavors of tequila and lime to make its new beer, Tequiza, due on store shelves Monday.

The name of the beer is a cross between tequila and the Spanish word for beer, ``cerveza.'' Anheuser-Busch said it created the beer because many beer drinkers squirt lime in their beer and drink tequila on the side.

The alcohol content of Tequiza is no higher than that of Budweiser - 5 percent. A 12-ounce bottle has 140 calories.

Tequiza appears to be Anheuser-Busch's response to Corona, the Mexican beer that has skyrocketed in popularity in the United States. Like Corona, Tequiza is packaged in a clear-glass bottle, something unusual for an Anheuser-Busch beer.

- Associated Press

CAPTION(S):

Photo, 2 Boxes

PHOTO (Color) Janniche Raniolo and Amy Leonard enjoy a couple of cold Coronas at a bar in Chicago, which consumes $89 million in beer annually.

Charles Cherney/Chicago Tribune

BOX: (1) Tequila & lime in new brew (see text)

(2) MEXICAN BEERS GAINING POPULARITY IN U.S.

U.S. sales of Mexican beers have surged 20 percent or more in the past year.

Knight Ridder Tribune