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LOS DOS POTRILLOS, a four-location Mexican restaurant in the Denver area, brews and cans its own beer. Now the family behind the restaurant is using that “manly” beverage to promote a good cause: male health awareness.

The idea emerged after Daniel Ramirez, who runs the restaurant together with his brother Luis and his father Jose, was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

“The message we want to send with this project is to normalize male health check-ups,” says Ramirez, who underwent surgery and chemo to battle his cancer. “Men tend to put health on the bottom of our priority list. When we reach a certain age, we go into our ‘go’ mode, we have to provide for our family, for our business, for our employees. Our health gets pushed back.”

The stories of five men who faced serious illness are being printed on the restaurant’s beer cans during November. Half of the proceeds from sales of those beers will be donated to related organizations. Ramirez’s story is on the restaurant’s Mexican Lager cans, and proceeds from his can will go to the Testicular Cancer Society and the Testicular Cancer Foundation. “The majority of men love beer, so when they pick up our beer and read the story, hopefully it will remind them to go to the doctor and get checked out,” Ramierez says.

If you want to know what the coming year holds for Mexican fare, who better to ask than some of the Mexican restaurant industry’s leading culinary voices? That’s just what Cacique did when the company partnered with Chef Gilberto Cetina of Chichen Itza and Holbox in Los Angeles, Chef Anastacia Quinoñes-Pittman of José in Dallas, and Andre Lomeli, a partner at Taqueria Mal Pan in Charlotte, North Carolina for its What’s Next in Mexican Cuisine report.

According to these experts, the top Mexican food trends for 2022 include:

• Masa for more than just homemade tortillas. More cooks will try their hand at making dishes like tlayudas, huaraches, sopes and gorditas.

• Mexican chorizo. This will join other staples like dried chiles, beans and queso fresco that are making their way into more and more meals across America.

• More mariscos. 2022 will be the year of seafood as foodies seek out authentic Mexican preparations such as aguachile and ceviche.

• Pickling and fermenting. This trending food preparation technique will make dishes like escabeche and drinks like tepache rise in popularity.

• Flor de calabaza. The delicate squash blossom will gain steam as an ingredient in home kitchens and restaurants alike.

• Tacos de guisado. Tacos made with the braised, stew-like, hearty, homey, one-pot meal called guisadaos are on the rise, and are on the way to becoming the year’s trendy taco filling.

• Specialty Mexican salts. Sal de gusano is one example of a salt spiking in popularity as the finishing garnish on both light and refreshing and savory, umami-rich cocktails.

Think about how you can incorporate these trends when creating menus for the year ahead.