El Graduado
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In the 1970s, nobody ever poked a slice of lime down the neck of their beer bottle. Limes were only served with Tecate beer, a beer that only came in a can. Some Mexicans said it was to cover the taste, as Tecate was the cheapest beer in Mexico back then. I suspect it had more to do with Tecate’s ad campaigns which showed a Tecate can with a slice of lime making it seem akin to tequila, but who knows.
In 1981, Corona Beer made a big push to enter the US market. One of their ad-men decided to showcase the clear-glass bottle of Corona with a lime slice stuck in the mouth of the bottle. Gullible Americans who wanted to look hip asked the bartender for a lime slice for their Corona, so as to not look like they didn’t know how to drink a Corona in they thought was the “accepted, traditional, Mexican way”. One wannabe hipster saw the other wannabe hipster doing this and he followed suit. The fad spread, but only in the US, at least at the beginning.
In September, 1986, The Chicago Tribune ran an article saying:
“Let`s set the record straight: lime or lemon goes with Tecate beer. Lime or lemon can go with other canned beers in Mexico. Lime or lemon does not go into long neck bottles of Corona Extra--except in Chicago. About a year ago the herd started cooling tastebuds singed by the fiery food it eats with a beer called Corona. The brew hadn`t been seen on shores of Lake Michigan before and with a stroke of marketing genius, the importer, Barton Brands, chose not to advertise the brand here. Without advertising, Corona took on an aura of mystery. Strategically placed in just the right establishments, the flies-to-honey marketing technique worked. Soon the herd guzzled so much of the stuff that rumors of scarce supply started to circulate. Pretty good considering Corona was introduced to this country only in the summer of 1981. Of course, at the first hint of mass popularity, the herd`s vanguard starts looking for something new. Enter the lime. A quick check with Leo Flores, associate editor of the Mexico City News, confirms this possibility. ‘No Mexican would ever do something like that. It sounds crazy,’ he said. ‘Lime with beer is a sort of trademark of Tecate. That`s how they advertise it here. People clean off the top of the can, rub it with lime or lemon and put salt on it. You can do that with any canned beer. But bottled beer--never!’ Carlos Alvarez, who worked for the Modelo brewery as export director for 10 years and still works with the brewery as a consultant, agrees. ‘In Mexico, Corona is not consumed with lime,’ Alvarez says. ‘Sometimes when people don`t know the product, they see someone else doing it, and they think that`s the way it should be done. It creates a chain reaction.’
So in Cozumel, when the bartenders had tourists asking them for a lime slice in their beer bottle, who were they to say it was foolish? Give the client what he wants and hope for a tip. With that enabling attitude, the American’s lime-in-a-bottle fad took root in Mexico’s tourist locations like Cozumel. Eventually, a new generation of Mexicans who grew up on Cozumel got used to the sight of seeing tourists poke their slice of lime into the neck of a beer bottle, but you don’t see Mexicans doing it much themselves. They don’t go in much for wearing balloons on their heads, either.
In 1981, Corona Beer made a big push to enter the US market. One of their ad-men decided to showcase the clear-glass bottle of Corona with a lime slice stuck in the mouth of the bottle. Gullible Americans who wanted to look hip asked the bartender for a lime slice for their Corona, so as to not look like they didn’t know how to drink a Corona in they thought was the “accepted, traditional, Mexican way”. One wannabe hipster saw the other wannabe hipster doing this and he followed suit. The fad spread, but only in the US, at least at the beginning.
In September, 1986, The Chicago Tribune ran an article saying:
“Let`s set the record straight: lime or lemon goes with Tecate beer. Lime or lemon can go with other canned beers in Mexico. Lime or lemon does not go into long neck bottles of Corona Extra--except in Chicago. About a year ago the herd started cooling tastebuds singed by the fiery food it eats with a beer called Corona. The brew hadn`t been seen on shores of Lake Michigan before and with a stroke of marketing genius, the importer, Barton Brands, chose not to advertise the brand here. Without advertising, Corona took on an aura of mystery. Strategically placed in just the right establishments, the flies-to-honey marketing technique worked. Soon the herd guzzled so much of the stuff that rumors of scarce supply started to circulate. Pretty good considering Corona was introduced to this country only in the summer of 1981. Of course, at the first hint of mass popularity, the herd`s vanguard starts looking for something new. Enter the lime. A quick check with Leo Flores, associate editor of the Mexico City News, confirms this possibility. ‘No Mexican would ever do something like that. It sounds crazy,’ he said. ‘Lime with beer is a sort of trademark of Tecate. That`s how they advertise it here. People clean off the top of the can, rub it with lime or lemon and put salt on it. You can do that with any canned beer. But bottled beer--never!’ Carlos Alvarez, who worked for the Modelo brewery as export director for 10 years and still works with the brewery as a consultant, agrees. ‘In Mexico, Corona is not consumed with lime,’ Alvarez says. ‘Sometimes when people don`t know the product, they see someone else doing it, and they think that`s the way it should be done. It creates a chain reaction.’
So in Cozumel, when the bartenders had tourists asking them for a lime slice in their beer bottle, who were they to say it was foolish? Give the client what he wants and hope for a tip. With that enabling attitude, the American’s lime-in-a-bottle fad took root in Mexico’s tourist locations like Cozumel. Eventually, a new generation of Mexicans who grew up on Cozumel got used to the sight of seeing tourists poke their slice of lime into the neck of a beer bottle, but you don’t see Mexicans doing it much themselves. They don’t go in much for wearing balloons on their heads, either.
