I’d link back to the article I wrote a couple years ago on Cinco de Mayo but it turns out it was long enough it fell into that abyss…so I’ll just write another .

This is my review of Firestone Walker 805 Cerveza:

Tacos were not something I was feeling on the 5th so I instead ate some Thai Noodles.  Is that the same thing?  Certainly not.  I did notice the utter lack of Corona available at the store that day.  One thing that always bugged me about Mexican beer is the lime.  Why do people do this?

There are a number of ludicrous sounding theories about this.  One in particular being Mesoamerican Indians used limes to combat bacterial growth, so naturally Mexican Indians waited until Spain conquered them to put limes in beer to kill the bacteria in a beverage originally brewed to combat waterborne illnesses.  The beer is already sterile and limes are not indigenous to the Americas, so that makes no sense.

Another is the cap may be rusted and the acid in the lime neutralizes the oxidized metal residue left on the bottle, except modern bottle caps now have a epoxy liner to prevent that.  The last one is to mask the skunkiness because Corona uses clear bottles except other well-known Mexican beers use brown/green bottles, taste more or less the same, and they still hand you a lime wedge.

The most likely sounding explanation is in 1981 a bartender bet his friend if he put a lime wedge in the bottle it would start a trend.  This is probably the dumbest explanation but seems like its the most likely because I was biased towards this being a marketing ploy.  One that even Corona themselves appear to have taken very seriously.

Also, “lime burn” is a thing.

What? It isn’t….MY fault you’re a bitch.

This practice ultimately took a life of its own and now hispters are adding lime flavoring to beer marketed towards people that might otherwise buy a Corona.  Which seems a bit sad to me because 805 is actually a totally decent hot weather + spicy food beer on its own.  Throwing some chemical in it to make it smell vaguely like a lime triggers the image of John Stossel standing in front of a table filled with every food product I buy with him saying, “but …everything else you buy…also contains chemicals…”. Somehow it still seems like a bridge too far. Firestone Walker 805 Cerveza:  2.2/5