Bottles of Modelo Especial beer are displayed for sale in a grocery store on June 14, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Mexican beer Modelo Especial recently dethroned Bud Light as the top-selling beer brand in the U.S., with the growing Hispanic drinking age population and an increased trend toward premiumization as main causes, according to a top analyst. "Everybody kind of figured Bud Light was getting hit by that boycott so that fell out of number one.
If I told you that the new top-selling brand is Mexican, you might be surprised. If I told you it's Mexican and not Corona … who would've thought Modelo Especial?" Barron's associate editor Jack Hough said during an appearance on Fox Business's "Barron's Roundtable."Following the Dylan Mulvaney controversy, wherein the beer brand took on significant backlash after featuring the transgender activist, Bud Light's sales have continued to take a dip, so much so that the brand has recently fallen from the spotlight as the #1 Selling Beer Brand on a dollar basis in the U.S.Hough stated two main factors were to blame for Bud Light's fall being Modelo's gain - one being the rapid growth of the Hispanic drinking age population in the U.S.
in comparison to that of the non-Hispanic drinking age population. BUD LIGHT MAKER CEO TELLS CUSTOMERS, 'WE HEAR YOU,' BUT DOESN'T APOLOGIZE AS SALES TANKHough also cited a recent trend toward premiumization – the practice of emphasizing a brand’s superior quality and exclusivity.
The analyst coined Modelo as Corona's "corporate premium cousin," with Modelo's sales gradually gaining momentum and recently passing Corona in sales in the U.S. "There's an irony here," Hough said.