Constellation Brands in Mexicali: When a $650 Million Brewery Lost to Water Scarcity

In 2020, Constellation Brands—the U.S. beverage giant behind household names like Corona, Modelo, and Pacifico—was forced to pull the plug on a nearly completed brewery in Mexicali, northern Mexico. Despite having invested more than $900 million and secured all the necessary environmental permits from local and federal authorities, the company found itself on the wrong side of public opinion, shifting political winds, and a worsening water crisis.