Una Cervesa, Por Favor: Corona Extra
Photo courtesy the author
As I write this, I am sitting in my living room in southern California drinking a Corona. It was on sale at Ralph’s Supermarket. Twelve 12 oz. bottles for $9.99. That works out to 83 cents per 12 oz. bottle, not a bad price.
The clear bottle with the blue painted-on label is very distinctive. You would never mistake it for another beer, even at a distance. Their logo, which is a crown with two lizard-like animals, is painted on the bottle along with their motto: La Cervesa Mas Fin. Did you know corona means crown in Spanish?
How to Serve Corona
Corona should be served ice cold. If you can put them in a bucket of ice, great. Normally I prefer to drink beer from a traditional half liter glass, but not Corona. The way to drink a Corona is to squeeze a lime wedge into it and then push the lime into the bottle. For some reason it always is better if you drink Corona straight from the bottle.
I normally cut each lime into eight wedges by cutting it lengthwise in half, in half again and in half again. Adding the lime wedge is a tradition that you should not skip. There are many traditions that go along with beer drinking and you should follow them all to maximize the enjoyment. Beer drinking has rituals much as every religion has rituals.
Best Time and Place for a Corona
Corona is probably goes best on a hot summer day in Texas. But since I am never in North America during the summer, I have to take it when I can get it. In Texas, they wrap a napkin around the bottle because the humidity makes the bottles sweat.
I normally drink Corona when I am in the U.S. southwest in a state bordering Mexico. That would be California, Arizona, New Mexico or Texas. The large Mexican population seems to put one in the mood for una cervesa from Mexico.
Make it a Fiesta: Add some Chips & Salsa
The number one snack that goes with Corona is chips and salsa. It is good to have both red and green salsa. If you can take it, get the RED HOT salsa. In fact, the more different kinds of salsa, the better. Some Mexican restaurants give you nine different kinds of salsa from mild to medium to muy caliente. Variety is the spice of life, so try them all.
My only complaint is that Corona comes in 12 oz. bottles. To me, one serving of beer is a half liter (500 milliliters) or in English countries one pint. Twelve ounces is just not quite enough and two bottles would be more than one serving.
One other tradition with Corona is to try to speak some Spanish when ordering or drinking it. Just say ” Una Cervesa, Por Favor.” and pretend you are Mexican for a while. All things considered, Corona is pretty good stuff that makes life enjoyable. Don’t drink to excess.
Here are some factoids:
- Pale Lager
4.6% Alcohol by volume
Top selling beer in Mexico
First brewed in 1925
Corona Extra is brewed in Mexico by Cerveceria Modelo S.A. but the company is partly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev.