Ahhh. I love Spring….mainly because it my lime tree really starts ramping up its production. And I noticed over the weekend that the extra fruit coming off the tree coincides nicely with Corona being on special at most of the bottleshops.
Yes…Corona. Nothing else seems to quite refresh as well on a hot day. Stick a slice of lemon or lime down the neck and instant good times. But it does raise an interesting problem, should it be rated with the lime/lemon or by itself. Normally you would think that it should be tasted by itself, as anything that really needs to be added to the beer to increase the taste should be done at the brewing stage, but that’s how it was handed to me, so that’s how I’m going to rate it.
Now I realise there are a lot of people out there that say it’s not a real beer. I don’t know why, I mean, they’ve been brewing beer since 1925. Their website tells me that they are the highest selling Mexican beer in the world and the world’s fourth highest selling beer over all. Impressive. Perhaps it’s the custom of shoving a lime wedge in a bottle that gives this perception. I definitely know my Irish grandfather would be turning in his grave if he knew I was drinking beer with fruit in it. But it could be something simple, like because it’s not served at the cricket or footy that makes it seem not a real beer choice. Its also one of the few beers that come in a clear bottle that actually use real hops and not super-critical hops.
Although it’s probably more likely that the straw colour is too pale, or that the light watery tasting, American style 4.6% alcohol lager taste is far too light for Australian drinkers. I’ve also had people tell me that it’s the Foster’s of North America; you only drink it when overseas. But to use a Jeremy Clarkson quote “that would be like living with Paris Hilton and sleeping on the couch” (Though I do tend to agree with the “not drinking Foster’s” rule).
So is it a real beer drinker’s beer, or is it only a beer of choice for the “I’m in touch with my inner self” soy latte double frappuccino drinking crowd? Well, I can tell you that on a hot day with the food coming straight off the bbq, there aren’t too many beers that are just so easy to wash down as Corona. And I mean it when I say that it needs to be the hot wet season days, as I’ve tried to drink this camping at Tinaroo in winter and it just doesn’t work. The only negative that I can find about Corona is the pricing; try to grab it when it’s around that $50 mark.
My final opinion? I definitely think Corona falls into the real beer choice category, but that doesn’t mean I also want to share a soy frappuccino while you share how your father didn’t hug you enough as a child.
