Days of the Beer, March 4

The beer for today is Three Floyds Cortez.

On March 4, 1519, Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and their wealth.

Cortes was born in 1485 and was a Spanish conquistador. He brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th Century. He was born to a family of lesser nobility, and decided to more to the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later Cuba. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland. He had a feud with the Governor of Cuba, which resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which he ignored.

While on the mainland, he allied with some indigenous people against others. He used a native woman as his interpreter (she later bore him a son). The Governor of Cuba sent people to arrest them, Cortes fought and won, then used those people as reinforcements. He wrote letters to the king asking to be acknowledged for success, instead of punished for mutiny. He overthrew the Aztecs and was awarded the title of Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca.

He returned to Spain in 1541 where he died, on December 2, 1547.

As to the beer:

This beer is a Three Floyds brewpub original.

This is a medium bodied, single hop pale ale showcasing the American hop variety, El Dorado.

The beer comes in at 45 IBUs and 7% ABV. The beer is listed as an American Pale Ale.

So, for Hernan Cortes, who conquered the Aztecs, have a Cortez.