Recently I noticed a very strange trend: beer from poorer countries often costs substantially more than beer from highly developed countries now. Why this is I haven't the faintest Idea. I don't believe for a minute that Mexican factory workers are getting overpaid. But how is it that Germany's number one import, Becks, costs substantially less than Mexico's Corona beer? Mind you, I don't mean that one is better than the other. Full disclosure, I do prefer Becks, but that's not what this post is about.
However Mexico is a poor nation where workers earn on average a few dollars a day. Germany has one of the most developed welfare systems and economies and commands some of the highest wages in the world. Germany has also had a so called Purity Law for beer that forbids the use of some of the cheaper ingredients used in Mexico (as well as the US and many other countries.)
When perusing the beers at Costco, there was also a Chinese beer that I didn't recognize. It's fun to try new things, and I thought, it's Chinese, it must be cheap- again, wages in China are even lower than Mexico. When I found the price I was genuinely surprised to see that it too was much more than Becks or several other high wage country beers.
To follow Bill Maher's playbook: New Rule....beers from countries where you can't drink the water must be cheaper than from those where you can!
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