Corona: 13

Taste: 4 Finish: 4 Visual: 3 Aroma: 2
Total: 13

Corona is that "premium" beer of the summer. It must be law that every barbecue has a cooler filled with it. Then an hour later the cry "We forgot the limes!" Thumb over the neck. Do the tip. Wait for the lime to float to the top to ensure proper mixing. Then a swig and a refreshing aaah. Yes, Corona has a trained. But is it any good?

You don't pour Corona out of the bottle. It's a fine pale golden color. It has essentially no aroma.

Now the taste. First, I ditch the lime to see what the beer really tastes like. Surprisingly, it's mildly sweet up front. Just a tad of flavor. The middle is pretty generic. Finally it has a decent sweetness at the end with a hint of bitter hops. It finishes very cleanly and then you're ready for another swig.

I was surprised that the beer was actually slightly sweet. No off flavors. Nothing offensive. Just a bit of flavor and very refreshing. So, why the lime? I think it adds just a bit of acidity to help cut through your summer thirst. But, a wedge of lime would do that to any lightly flavored beer. So, I feel the lime is really unnecessary. We're just conditioned like Pavlov's dogs to need that lime in the beer. It adds to the experience. You might as well do the same for Bud or Coors.

All in all, Corona is actually not a bad beer. Given the other mass market pilsners, Corona stands a bit a head of them. It's not good beer. But, not bad for a hot day at a bbq.