Lime in Corona bottles

sioda wrote:

When I was in Mexico every beer came with lime and after asking why we were told quite politely that Lime is a strong acid and kills off any bacteria on the bottle and then it is safe to drink.

We were also told not to put it in the bottle but throw it away.

On topic the lime would destroyed in the recycling process

Wikipedia wrote:

The lime

It is common in Europe, the United States and Canada for Corona to be served with a slice of lime in the neck. This practice is less common in Mexico itself, outside of areas frequented by tourists[citation needed]. Corona's heavy media presence in the United States may be the reason for the disparity in the two beer cultures. Beer-lime combinations such as the Chelada and the Michelada are however, popular in Mexico[citation needed].

The reason for the lime is that hop compounds degrade when they come into contact with light. This causes beer in clear bottles to turn 'skunky.' The lime is used to mask this aroma. [2]


Common myths surrounding the origin of the lime include:
1. The lime was originally to plug the neck of the bottle up to keep flies and other insects out of the beer.
2. The lime was used to clean the top of the bottle to ensure it was sanitary before drinkers would put their lips to the glass. The acidity of the lime juice was believed to kill anything that could be harmful to tourists (actually, not very likely). Over time tourists began to push the lime into the bottle, which brings us to today's common occurrence of adding lime to Corona.
3. The lime was used to clean the neck of the bottle from the rusty remains of the bottle cap. In the early days the bottle caps where made very simply and often left rust stains on the bottle neck, leading to a rather bad taste.