Mexico & USA: Baja Brewing Company expands its US distribution

Baja Brewing Company, the original craft brewery in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, is celebrating two important milestones: winning Best Large Brewery of Mexico by Copa Cerveza and expanding its US distribution by adding New York State to its stateside lineup, Brewbound reported on November 15.

Copa Cerveza, the most prestigious beer competition in Mexico, took place in October in Mexico City where 28 international beer judges evaluated more than 600 beers in 42 categories. 130 Mexican breweries participated, of which, Baja Brewing Company was the most decorated with five medals and being recognized as the Best Large Brewery in Mexico.

Since its inception in 2007, Baja Brewing Company has been pushing the boundaries of Mexican beer. The company’s mission from the start was to bring a craft brewing culture to Mexico similar to that in Colorado, where Founder/Brewmaster Jordan Gardenhire first began brewing beer while in college at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

With two brewpubs in Los Cabos, Baja Brewing Company features more than eight different beer styles, plus seasonal beers, focusing on all-natural and local ingredients. The brewery distributes throughout Southern Baja and Mexico and in 2012, entered the U.S. market with its flagship blonde ale, Cabotella (CAH-bo-TAY-uh), a play on words meaning “Cabo in a bottle.”

US distribution continued in early 2016 when BBC began importing its Mexican IPA, Por Favor, followed by Escorpion Negro in 2017, a black ale, and most recently, in 2020, a Mexican lager called La Surfa. As the eighth state in the expansion, New York joins Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Nevada, Kansas and Tennessee.

In New York, Baja Brewing Company is excited to partner with S.K.I Beer for its first distribution market in the Northeast. All four styles of the beer are available in both cans and kegs.

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