A murderous drug lord serving life in prison is being celebrated with a beer named in his honour.

Alejandrina Guzman has developed a craft beer dedicated to her infamous, incarcerated kingpin father Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. 

The beer is part of the “El Chapo 701” brand, which has already launched a clothing line, and gets its name from when Forbes named him the 701st richest person in the world in 2009. Forbes estimated his net worth at US$1 billion at the time. 

“This is an artisanal beer, with 4% alcohol. This prototype is a lager, and it’s made up of malt, rice and honey so it’s good,” said Adriana Ituarte, a salesperson for the brand. “And the idea is for it to be sold at bars that stock craft beer.” 

A 355 ml bottle is due to be priced at 70.10 pesos ($4.90).

“El Chapo”, who shipped narcotics around the world and escaped two maximum security prisons before his final capture, was extradited to the United States in 2017 and found guilty in a U.S. court last year on a host of drug trafficking charges. 

Mexico’s drug cartels are a plague on the country, with thousands killed each year as they battle for supremacy in a hugely lucrative market. As well as being scorned, however, narco-traffickers are celebrated in a distinct genre of Mexican music known as ‘narcocorrido’ or ‘drug ballad.’

Bruce Parkinson Editor-in-Chief

An observer and analyst of the Canadian and international travel industries for over 25 years, Bruce uses the pre-dawn hours to prepare a daily news and information package to keep industry members up to date.