Maxican beer with lemon slice

It is necessary to serve all the Mexican beer with lemon slice

Originally the company never mentioned Corona being served with lime or lemon. Some people at a bar discovered that the drink tastes better when served with lemon juice. So much so that customers began asking the drink to be served with a little lemon juice.

There are two explanations that everyone say about that fact:

1.- It’s to kill the skunky aroma of the beer. (this one I don’t think is true, because they use hop Extract to bitter the beer, so no really a lot of chems to do that reaction)

2.- Marketing. Corona is known to be drank in the beach. Heat, sun, chicks in bikini, surfers, turtles… bla bla bla. This is true. You go to any beach in Mexico and you always can find a Corona. It’s nice because you can have a drinkable beer to fight the heat. But amazingly, they usually don’t serve it with a lime in Mexico… That’s is more of a campaign in other countries. Here you say “ Bring me a Corona” and they Bring you just the bottle. In addition, you can say “Bring me a Corona Michelada” and they Will Bring the bottle and a Glass with salt in the border and some Lime juice inside (refreshing as hell).

So basically the lime inside the bottle is in mho, just a marketing thing to relate Corona to “refreshing, sun, beach, drinkable”.

Anywhere you go, whether it’s a beachfront tiki bar, an upscale rooftop bar or even old school pub, the bartender will serve you a Corona with lime and cerveza lovers will squeeze the lime juice into the brew and let the little green fruit float around the bottle. But how did this habit of adding a lime to a Corona start.

It Keeps Away The Flies

The first theory is that bartenders starting sticking a lime wedge in a Corona to keep flies from crawling along the mouth of the bottle.

While we can’t know for certain if this is the sole reason behind the little green wedge, there is some proof to back up the effectiveness of this practice. Many manufactured bug repellents contain citrus extracts, not only for the fresh scent,but because citrus oil is a natural bug deterrent.

It Combats Skunked Beer

I’m partial to this theory, because I have fallen victim to a “skunked Corona,” more than once. Most beers come in a dark glass bottle, usually brown or green, this is to protect the brew from light exposure. One of the main ingredients in beer are hops, the flowers of the Humulus lupulus plant, which work as a flavoring and preservative agent in beer. Hops are very light-sensitive, and when exposed to too much of it, a chemical reaction occurs that releases a foul “skunk-like” scent. Because of its crystal clear bottle, this is a common problem for Coronas. It is believed that their advertisers suggested that consumers drink their Corona straight from the bottle — the narrow opening makes it difficult to smell — and with a lime wedge — the citrus fruit cancels out the bitterness and masks the scent.

It Kills The Germs

Another theory for the lime is that it serves as a natural disinfectant for the mouth of the bottle. Since Corona is almost always consumed directly from the bottle, its drinkers have a higher chance of coming in contact with germs from possible unsanitary bottling conditions. In the past, bottle caps were also known to leave behind a rusty residue sometimes, the lime was used to wipe it away. Whatever the reason, there is evidence that because of its high acidity, lime can neutralize certain bacteria, especially ones found in improperly stored foods. Studies show that lime juice can help improve our immune systems and even protects against cholera, so we say keep in it in our Coronas

Other Theories

There are a lot of other theories surrounding the infamous lime. Some tell the tale of a bartender who made a bet that he could start a trend of adding limes to a Corona and it stuck. Others believe the origin of the lime was purely a marketing ploy to create a more visually appealing product and boost sales. Some theories suggest that putting lime in a Corona is a Mexican tradition that Americans emulated. Meanwhile many Mexicans argue that they never put limes in their Coronas and simply started to do so to humor tourists. Lastly, a lot of people think the lime is just in there to enhance the flavor and make it taste better.

disguising the skunky aroma of beer exposed to sunlight in Corona's iconic clear bottles -- is certainly the original reason. The clear bottles have been in use since the brand's inception in the early 20th century, and prior to modern refrigerator trucks and preservatives Corona's beer was more prone to spoilage than beer bottled in normal dark bottles. (It's not at all accidental that dark green or dark brown bottles are industry standard. Sunlight does spoil beer.)

Why people still add lime nowadays is a less straightforward question. I suspect mid-20th century visitors to Mexico's resorts found the custom quaint or exotic, and from there it was a very short step to making it "fashionable" ("the way real Mexicans do it!") and a defining part of the brand. It helps that Corona is such an insipid lager that it doesn't have much flavor of its own. (Real beer drinkers, of course, have no respect for Corona, or for adulterating beer with fruit of any sort.)

There are different theories as to why the lime is put there in the first place: It cleans the tip of the bottle, or it kills germs, or it shoos flies, or it masks the taste of skunky beer. But whatever the reason, the first wedge of lime put into a bottle of Mexican beer stuck there, literally and permanently.