Mexico and lime in the beer theories

Lager and lime is popular in other places too. Sometimes lime cordial. It takes away that beer aftertaste.

It cleanses the pallate between bites of finger food served in tapas bars?

I don't know about Mexicans but I put lime in Tecate beer cause it doesn't have a lot of flavor otherwise. I suppose the same goes with Corona, although I don't drink it. I just can't get into pee colored beer. Dos equis on the other hand has enough flavor for me that I don't put limes into it. There aren't a lot of restaurants around here that serve alcohol and I don't eat out much but if I get the opportunity I'll try to pay more attention to Mexicans and their beers next time.

Mexican beer comes in lighter coloured bottles than in other countries and the beer reacts with UV light, giving the beer a 'skunky' aroma. The lime takes away the aroma.

The beers that are bottled in clear glass use a different type of hops that is more resistant to going off by reacting with UV. Some say those beers are not as good -- maybe a lime is needed?

For me, a lime is just a source of contamination -- how long was the lime sitting on a dirty bar, or how clean was the knife that cut the lime, or the fingers of the person who stuffed it into the top of the bottle -- yech.

So you don't get a headache next morning.

PS: I never liked Corona.

In Mexico, the limón is served with nearly every thing except coffee.

According to the web (c) -- 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.)

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Edited by: zashibis

I'm a big fan of lime in beer. Also german grapefruit beer and cherry beer. Clearly I am not a real beer drinker.