Drink #7 Corona w/ lime
1.14.2012
During my sophomore year in college, one of the dorms had a mixer in their great room that was sponsored by Corona. The room was huge and looked like the Caribbean section of the party supply story threw up on itself. Fake parrots and all.
And they filled the entire room with sand.
That is correct.
I don’t know square footage x volume mathematics, but it was like, a shitload of sand. The whole room. Inches thick.
And if I remember correctly, it was originally “approved & sanctioned” by someone important on campus staff that wait for it then lost their job after no one had “approved or sanctioned” a way to remove the sand.
Whoops.
What is that old saying about sand? It gets everywhere.
Sorry, I do have a point.
There must have been hundreds of items with the Corona logo, palm trees, parrots, beach toys, sand. And they served a mistake pizza. Oh, and Funyuns–you know those little delicious onion ring chips?
That is correct.
Say what you will about Corona, but it’s a Mexican beer. I remember being one of the few that made any point about it, suggesting how stupid it was to serve pizza and chips. However, I believe just everyone else–hundreds of students–were just excited to get free beer. Oh, college!
[Do I need to add a sentence or two mentioning that I was the only one not drinking? Hm, probably not. Should I also mention that I sat in the corner eating Funyuns and making a sand castle with beer to make the sand stick to itself? I’ll think about it.]
Anyway, I was doing the party planning this time around, some 16 years later. (shhhh, shhhh… ignore that number.) So I took a note from the first time I was introduced to Corona, and made some thousand changes.
I made homemade classic carnitas, black beans & corn with some fresh flour tortillas and salsa. It was just Joe and I relaxing for the evening, and not a fake parrot or grain of sand in sight.
I might be a virgin, but I’m also a bit of a purist.
I’ll say my first sip of Corona certainly reminded me of the Bud Light as my only other beer of reference, but then that recent memory quickly faded.
Even by the second sip, I could tell that I actually enjoyed the Corona. It had little to no sweetness, was sharply bitter, a bit musky. But the taste was clean and had hints of leather and cedar, maybe?. And I enjoy those scents. Apparently, I enjoy those flavors. The lime was nice too.
Joe showed me how to properly put the slice of lime in and then wedge my thumb into the mouth of the neck to tip the bottle upside down, allowing the lime to travel to the bottom of the bottle and then back up. Fancy. Or should I say, de fantasía!
Anyway, even two beers in, I’m glad to report that I liked this one. I’ll admit that I hoped the lime–one of my favorite fruits and flavors–would help to carry the flavor for me. But honestly, while the lime certainly added to the bitterness nicely, I enjoyed the beer on it’s own. Truly making me excited to explore even more beers in the weeks and months ahead. As if I gave myself a choice.
So here’s to Corona, an American loved, Mexican beer. Estoy contento de haber disfrutado de usted. And here’s to all of my readers, friends and family! 7 drinks in, 150+ to go. Yikes.
Cheers, Ben
PS: Sometime early this week, I want to kick it off with a good first drink of Amaretto Sour. If you know of a good place in DC and might want to join me, let me know. Also looking for suggestions for a good next try of wine. Just remember, be kind to the virgin.