This week's Sunday Night Suds takes on a celebratory tone by reviewing Corona Extra (OK, so I am a few days early).Largely unknown to most in mainstream kashrus, the OK laboratories gives a hashgacha on many beers produced by Mexico based Compania Cervecera Del Tropico S.A. de CV. These beers include Corona Cerveza, Corona Extra, Corona Light, Coronita Cerveza, Coronita Extra, Leon, Modelo Especial, Modelo Light, Montejo, Negra Modelo Beer, Pacifico Clara, Victoria. While many of these beers are not available in mainstream outlets, some are very visible like the ever present Corona Extra.
While beer is generally not a drink which is served with a garnish, Corona is quite often served with a lime. This could be due to the fact that the flavor of the lime blends very well with the Corona, or because the Corona is so bland and tasteless that anything would work well with it in order to perk up the flavor of the brew.
I am ambivalent as to whether the reason for the success of the Corona and lime combination is because of the former or the latter reason. There are quite a few lime beer brewed combinations, although I have only tried one - Blue Moon Rising Moon Spring Ale (brewed with Kieffer Lime) because it is currently the only lime flavored beer under hashgacha (for a review click http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/03/sunday-night-suds-rising-moon-spring.html).
This may change soon however, as the OU has been reviewing the Miller beers which joined the MillerCoors family and there is hope that many more flavored beers will soon be under kosher supervision. I hope to provide more information on these brews once I can confirm that they are under supervision.
The Corona Extra is a very light lager which pours almost lemon candy yellow. The beer has a fair amount of carbonation and is OK when consumed ice cold. I would not want to try this beer when it was warm and I sometimes wonder why it is so popular in the United States.
Corona Extra is under the kosher supervision of the OK laboratories - click here http://www.ok.org/kfgProducts.asp?ir=R&V=Compania+Cervecera+Del+Tropico+S%2EA%2E+de+CV to see the full list of Compania Cervecera Del Tropico S.A. de CV. beers which are under the OK.
For the experts' take on Corona Extra please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/75/232.
As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).
Finally, if you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
4 comments:
I read or heard somewhere that sunlight triggers some chemical reaction in beer which causes a foul taste, which is why most beers are in cans or dark glass bottles. Corona packs its beers in clear bottles, so it needs the lime to mask the foulness.
Economics has yet to solve why anyone would pay a premium for imported bad beer when cheaper domestic bad beer is readily available.
As to the former comment, maybe I will write on the issue of clear vs cloudy bottles in next Sunday night's post.
As to the "economics" question - never doubt the power of the consumer to pursue trendy beer over better quality brews.
That's exactly the question -- how did bad beer from a country that isn't otherwise known for quality exports became so popular in a country that makes its own, cheaper, equally bad beers? I'd understand if a bad French wine or a bad German car was popular, but what's so special about Mexican beer? I guess it's smart marketing. Maybe the clear bottle is attractive, even if it supposedly increases the chances of ruined beer.
I don't think that the attraction is the clear bottle, nor do I think that it is responsible for the taste of the beer - Corona is weak and tasteless, not skunky (unless its really old).
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