Long before becoming one of Mexico’s most recognizable beers, both at home and abroad, Pacífico was a business venture designed to solve a far more local problem. At the end of the 19th century, Mazatlán depended on beer imported from elsewhere, and growing consumption created an opportunity to produce it directly in this port city in the state of Sinaloa.
That opportunity gave rise to Cervecería del Pacífico. Three German entrepreneurs—Germán Evers, Emilio Philippi and Johan Georg Claussen, known in Mexico as Jorge Claussen—developed the project alongside other investors. The brewery officially began operations on March 14, 1900, laying the foundations for an industrial activity that has remained tied to Mazatlán for more than a century.
The founders assembled an investment of about 300,000 pesos at the time to purchase machinery from the United States. According to historical records from those early years, the new brewery had the capacity to produce about 175,000 liters of beer and 26,000 cases.
Conditions favored the venture. Mazatlán was already a major commercial port on Mexico’s Pacific coast and had a sizable community of foreign business owners and merchants, including a German community that played a prominent role in a range of economic activities. Beer that had previously arrived through importers began to be produced locally.
A beer rooted in its place of origin
Its territorial identity was present from the outset. The name Pacífico referred directly to the ocean that geographically defines Mazatlán and eventually came to identify both the brewery and the beer produced there.
The company began by brewing a Pilsner-style beer that steadily gained acceptance among local consumers. An outlet was opened beside the brewery to meet demand directly, while barrels and cases were distributed around the city on mule-drawn carts—an image far removed from the scale the brand would later achieve.
Over time, its connection to Mazatlán became one of its core identity markers. The port, the ocean and its coastal character remained part of Pacífico’s evolution even after it ceased to be primarily a regional beer and expanded distribution across Mexico and into other markets.
The company’s growth also turned the brewery into one of northwestern Mexico’s significant industrial centers. In 1926, management passed to Casa Melchers, a company with a long commercial history in Mexico and a substantial presence among foreign business owners.
That period lasted nearly three decades, until the corporate transaction in 1954 that would permanently reshape Pacífico’s future.
Joining Grupo Modelo
Grupo Modelo acquired Cervecería del Pacífico and its flagship brand in 1954. The deal brought the Mazatlán company into a group that had been operating since 1925 and was gradually building one of Mexico’s largest brewing businesses.
The acquisition enabled Pacífico to progressively move beyond its status as a regional brand. Its distribution expanded across the country as Grupo Modelo built a portfolio encompassing brands with different identities and origins.
Throughout that process, Pacífico retained a particularly strong association with Mazatlán. The historic brewery remains in operation in the city, and Grupo Modelo officially identifies the facility as Compañía Cervecera del Pacífico.
International expansion later added another chapter to the brand’s history. In the United States, Pacífico forged a distinctive connection with the surf culture of California and Baja California. The brand itself has made part of its narrative the story of American surfers who traveled to Mexico, discovered the beer and returned to California with cases of it, helping spread awareness of the brand north of the border.
Regardless of the promotional dimension that story later acquired, the association between Pacífico, Mexico’s coast and a particular lifestyle helped build a distinctive identity in the competitive U.S. market.
From a local brewery to AB InBev
The next major shift came with AB InBev’s acquisition of Grupo Modelo. The transaction was completed in 2013, making the group’s Mexican brands part of the world’s largest brewing conglomerate.
Pacífico thus became part of a multinational company with a global footprint and a portfolio that includes some of the world’s largest international beer brands. Within that structure, Grupo Modelo retains Mexican brands including Corona Extra, Modelo Especial, Victoria, Negra Modelo and Pacífico itself.
The scale of today’s business is difficult to compare with the brewery inaugurated in Mazatlán in 1900. Grupo Modelo now operates eight breweries in Mexico and six plants devoted to other parts of the production chain, including glass, malt, cans and closures. The company puts its direct employment in the country at nearly 30,000 jobs.
Pacífico continues to be produced in Mazatlán, although production has also expanded to other facilities within the group. The brand has also added different varieties to its range and is sold in Mexico as well as international markets.
Its corporate history illustrates a common feature among some century-old brands that have survived successive waves of business consolidation: ownership may change several times, while the place of origin remains part of the brand’s principal asset.
Pacífico was born because a group of entrepreneurs identified demand that imports were unable to adequately meet in early-20th-century Mazatlán. It later passed through Casa Melchers, joined Grupo Modelo in 1954 and ultimately became part of AB InBev more than a century after its founding. Yet its name, historic brewery and much of its identity still point to the same place: the Mexican port on the Pacific Ocean where production began in 1900.
