Modelo

I find it fascinating that Modelo, of all things, has become America’s most popular beer.

America’s top-selling beer is no longer American.

Modelo Especial, the Mexican lager brewed near Mexico City by Constellation Brands, became the top-selling beer in May, overthrowing Bud Light from the top spot it has held for more than two decades. The fall from the top further highlighted how much trouble the Anheuser-Busch brand is in following transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s Instagram post showing off a customized Bud Light can.

For four weeks ending on June 3, Modelo captured 8.4% of US retail beer sales, with Bud Light falling to second place with 7.3%, according to NIQ data given to consulting firm Bump Williams. Dollar sales were equally grim for Bud Light during that period, with sales falling 24.4%, while Modelo’s grew 12.2%.

In recent years, drinkers have been switching their beer preference to Mexican beers and spirits, such as tequila and mezcal. Williams said that a number of factors contributed to Modelo becoming the top-selling beer (at least for May), including strong retailer support, great advertising, eye-catching packaging and a “springboard effect” from Cinco de Mayo going into the summer.

Greg Gallagher, vice president of brand marketing for New York-based Constellation, told CNN that Modelo has been “enjoying an incredible run of success” for the past several years and said that it wants to replicate the dominance it has with Hispanic drinkers with more demographics. “Our growth is in maintaining that core but also bringing in non-Hispanic customers, and we’re having incredible success.”

If there’s a bright spot forAnheuser-Busch (BUD) (whose parent company is based in Belgium), it is that the American-madeBud Light remains the top-selling beer on a year-to-date basis. Also, sales fell for other beers in its family, such as Michelob Ultra, Natural Light and Busch Light in the same time period compared to previous weeks.

Mostly this is an outright good thing because Modelo is simply a much better beer than Bud Light or any of the other big domestic crap. I like most of the major Mexican beers. Certainly not Corona or Tecate, OK. But the main Mexican lagers represent a solid style of German-influenced beverage with corn as a major ingredient. The various Modelos, Dos Equis, Pacifico, Victoria–these are not great beers. But they are certainly good enough beers. And when you are talking about the most popular beer in America, I’d far rather have any of these than Bud or Busch or Coors or any of that trash.