Tequila drinkers lick salt and bite lemons to quell the Mexican spirit’s unpleasant aftertaste, but that’s not stoppping Anheuser-Busch from going national with Tequiza, a tequila-and-lime-flavored beer. The product’s rollout follows “impressive test market results in Texas, New Mexico, Florida, New York City, and parts of California,” company officials say.
Special promotions are in the works, although details were not available at press time, according to an A-B spokesman.
Tequiza is made by blending lager beer with blue agave nectar and a natural flavor of lime and imported tequila. A-B launches nationally as the popularity of both tequila and Mexican import beers is on the rise. According to brewing industry newsletter Impact, imported tequila sales rose an estimated 7 percent in 1998, while imports of Mexican beers grew 34 percent between October 1997 and October 1998.
Tequiza is available in six- and 12-packs of clear, 12-once longnecks nationally, and in six-packs of 7-ounce bottles in select markets.
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