10 Lime Beers, Ranked Worst To Best

Most beer drinkers have shoved a small lime slice through the narrow neck of a clear-bottled Corona — it's practically a rite of passage once you're legally old enough to drink. The Corona and lime pairing is such a staple nowadays that other brewers are starting to incorporate lime into their ales. 

Personally, I'm thankful that sticky lime-squeezing may now be a thing of the past, but there's still one big question: Are these lime beers actually good? To suss out the budding product, I got my hands on several cans and bottles to try them out and share my insights with every other Corona-lime fan out there. I ranked the beers based on how well their lime flavor came through, the quality of the lime flavor, and whether it contributed to or detracted from the brew as a whole.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

It may surprise some of you to see Corona's Sunbrew Citrus Cerveza sitting squarely at the bottom of my list, but there's one simple (and, admittedly, not entirely fair) reason for its placement here: The lime hardly came through at all in this brew, which was a bit of a letdown in a lime-centric taste test. 

Orange is the far more prominent note, and it's good. But I didn't like that lime took a backseat, and if I hadn't known there was lime in this in the first place, I probably wouldn't have been able to identify it. Though I liked the beer, because this is a lime beer taste test, I unfortunately couldn't rank it very high. If you want to go the Corona-lime route, I suggest sticking to the OG method of forcing a small wedge into the bottle.

Up next is Dogfish Head's Seaquench Ale, which had inarguably the best head of foam of any of the brews on this list. And, I can say that it holds incredibly true to its name; if any beer deserves to call itself "Seaquench," it's this one. Unfortunately, it landed with a girl who isn't hugely into brine (if you are, try it!) and its lime didn't shine as much as some of the following beers.

I was surprised by how salty Dogfish Head's Seaquench Ale was. It wasn't by any means unpalatable, but I just wasn't expecting what I got when I took a sip. I tasted some lime behind the brine of the ale, but it wasn't as present as I'd hoped, and that's the biggest reason I couldn't give this brew a higher ranking. But, if you want a briny ale with a touch of citrus-forward brightness, you may want to give it a try.

Dos Equis' Lime & Salt Chelada would be a good beer for those who prefer gentle, light brews. Personally, I'm that kind of drinker, but that's also why I couldn't rank this any higher on this list. Although lime was the dominant flavor at the beginning of the sip, I hardly got any ale flavor by the end. 

Because one of the factors taken into consideration when ranking these brews was how well the beer and lime melded together, I gave this a slightly lower spot than I may have otherwise. It tasted as though I was drinking two beverages at once because I tasted each flavor in sequence. It's definitely not bad, but it was not quite what I was looking for.

I can't deny the aesthetic appeal of Stone Brewing's Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager, which is enough for me to keep these cans on hand. I liked this beer on the whole — it was bright and pretty refreshing — but its lack of a big punch of lime relegated it to a relatively low spot on this list (though I'd call it a good brew to try if you like light lagers). 

This beer had more flavor than Dos Equis, but the lime still came through in stages rather than melding with the beer to create a cohesive drink. The lime flavor had a certain bitterness to it that kept it from ranking higher. It's not the most uncharacteristic note for lime, but the beers toward the top of my list were able to temper it in a way that eliminated the bitterness completely. 

My opinion of Bud Light Lime was similar to my opinion of Stone Brewing's Buenaveza. I only ranked this beer higher because its lime flavor came through slightly more. I'm also admittedly partial to a glass beer bottle; however, that didn't play any role in my ranking. 

If you've had Bud Light (which used to be America's favorite beer), you're familiar with its classic, bright, ultra-refreshing flavor, and that came through in droves here. It'll make the beer feel familiar even if you've never tried the lime variation before. As far as the lime itself, it still had a lingering bitterness that I didn't like, but that didn't make it unenjoyable. I ultimately liked the smoother beers I tried more.

Uinta's Lime Pilsner is the last of the beers I tried that had a bitter lime flavor. This beer had one thing going for it that the previous two didn't: Its lime was ultra-strong, and I'd have been able to easily identify it even if I didn't know it was a lime beer. 

The slightly bitter aftertaste did keep it from ranking any higher on this list, but overall, I'd still call it a very refreshing, citrusy brew. This would be a good pick for those who like beers with a little kick, or for those who prefer stronger ales. The lime and the pilsner blend together well, and the drink has its own cohesive identity. Still, I found myself more endeared to the following brews.

It was difficult to rank the top four beers on this list, each of which was very good in its own right. One of my favorite things about Garage Beer was that you could smell the lime from the moment you opened the can, and I really appreciated the olfactory clue as to what I was getting into. 

The beer itself tastes smooth, bright, and neutral, and while the lime isn't as abundant as it was in some of the other beers on this list, it adds a pleasant "zing" to the whole sip. If you want to taste lime in your beer without being hit over the head with it, this would be a good can to buy. It definitely has its own identity, though it couldn't quite surpass the following selections.

Boulevard Brewing Co.'s Southwest BLVD Lager is another can I wouldn't be able to pass up in a store aisle (if you have more self-control than I do, I envy you). Its retro roadside appeal does a great job of hinting at what's inside, and I thoroughly enjoyed sipping on this lager. 

The lime in Boulevard's brew was absolutely stunning, and it made itself known throughout the sip without overshadowing the lager. It had a bright and zesty character that lingered on my lips after taking a sip and left me wanting to take another (and another, and ... well, you get it). Boulevard was my favorite of the non-household names, so you can bet I'll be keeping it on hand — that is, if I don't run into either of the following first. 

We've previously called Busch Light the last beer you should settle for, but I'd like to formally challenge that statement. I firmly believe Busch Light Lime deserves the second-place spot on this list, and that's a hill I'll die on. It had pretty much every quality I was looking for in a lime beer. 

This may have been the most lime-forward of any beer on this list, but the citrus still managed to integrate seamlessly with the beer. The result was an incredibly easy sipper that was bright, juicy, and ultra-refreshing, with no bitterness to speak of. I was impressed that the company achieved such a zesty appeal without losing the beer. Still, it couldn't top my number-one choice. 

Citrus flavors aren't new to Modelo's roster, and I suspect that's because the brand does them particularly well. I loved Modelo's Limon y Sal Chelada, and it would be my first recommendation to anyone looking for a lime beer — for several reasons. And no, its supersized can isn't one of them. 

Rather, this drink managed to taste just like that genius concoction, the "Beerrita." I was instantly reminded of tipping a bottle on Corona upside-down into a frozen margarita, which is to say that it was delicious. The salt was present but not overbearing; it just amplified the flavors of the lime and the brew, and helped to blend them together to create a seamless, effortlessly refreshing drink experience. Modelo's entry was well worth the top spot here.

After rounding up every lime beer I could get my hands on, I tasted a few sips of each (drinking water in between) and evaluated them based on a few factors. The most important was how potent the lime flavor was; if it wasn't very identifiable, I couldn't give the beer a very high spot.

The second factor I considered was the quality of the lime flavor. The bitter beers got spots toward the middle of the list, and I favored smoother options because of the brightness of the lime. Finally, I considered how cohesive the brew felt as a whole. If it tasted like two separate drinks that were haphazardly combined, I gave it a lower ranking than a beer with a clear identity.