Corona Premier is a light Mexican American lager. It was introduced in 2018 as an alternative to Corona Light, another light offering under the Corona banner. Its light, inoffensive flavor gives it a crisp, clean drinking experience. Corona Premier has a low-calorie count with a full beer strength of 4.0%.
Corona Premier is a Mexican American light lager. This classification is due to its alcohol content of 4.0%, pale coloration, bottom-fermenting yeast strain, and very low bitterness.
In this article, we’ll look closely at the Corona Premier drinking experience and how that determines what kind of beer Corona Premier is. We’ll also examine the Corona Premier brewing process, the beer’s flavor, and history.
Why Is Corona Premier a Lager?
As a general rule, most beers can be classified either as ales or lagers. The main difference between the two is in their flavor. Ales have more body and flavor than lagers, which typically offer a clean, crisp drinking experience. Ales are brewed using top-fermenting yeast, while lagers are brewed using bottom-fermenting yeast.
Corona Premier is brewed using bottom-fermenting yeast. That makes it a lager. Its clean palate and simple, easy drinking experience are classic lager features, although Corona Premier offers a particularly anodyne palate.
Corona Premier is fermented at a lower temperature range of 35-50°F, very typical of a lager.
What Kind Of Lager Is Corona Premier?
Within the lager category, there are many different types of lager. These are typically named for their place of origin and will look and taste subtly different from one another. To help make classifying different kinds of beer easier, organizations like the Beer Judge certification program set out a set of criteria that we can use to classify different types of beer.
These include:
- IBU to measure bitterness
- SRM to measure color
- Alcohol by volume
Corona Premier falls within the recommended ranges of these categories for American light lagers, and its IBU is within the 8-12. For context, IBU can range from 0-100. Corona Premier has next to no bitterness in its palate whatsoever, assuming that you haven’t accidentally consumed a lightstruck bottle. It’s far from being a bitter beer.
Corona Premier has a particularly low SRM of 2-3. This is apparent in its pale, clear, golden straw color. It’s hard to differentiate Corona Premier from the standard Corona when looking at the beer, as these are very pale beers with minimal coloration. As a general rule, American light lagers should have an SRM value of 2-4, as the American Society of Brewing Scientists set.
Corona Premier’s advertised ABV of 4.0% is well within the recommended range of 2.8%-4.2%.
Corona, owned by Grupo Modelo, traces its origins to Mexico, but Corona Premier feels like an American light lager.
Has Corona Premier Always Been A Mexican American Light Lager?
Simply put, yes. Corona Premier has only been around since 2018, offering an “extremely smooth premium light beer” to Corona drinkers. Smoothness and drinkability are highly prized traits among the American light beer market, which is accustomed to the likes of Bud Light and Coors Light. Inoffensive, clean, crisp drinking experiences are the name of the game when it comes to American light lagers.
Corona Premier Flavor
Below you’ll find a summary of our opinion on this beer. However, if you’re looking for the full description, you’ll find it here: What Does Corona Premier Taste Like And Is It Good?
Corona Premier is one of the lightest beers we’ve tried, and it’s definitely the lightest of all Corona’s offerings. It’s a little fruity, with hints of corn and malt, but it lacks much overall character. This is not a big, bold, flavorful beer by any stretch of the imagination, and its taste is very minimal. This beer could just as easily be named “Corona Extra Light” because it’s even lighter than Corona Light, an already very light beer.
Corona Premier was designed to be very refreshing. It has a slight hopped bitterness that is standard for the style and politely refuses to linger too long. The beer’s bitterness is almost entirely absent.
As expected, a sip of Corona Light without the lemon or lime wedge offers mostly clean malty, slightly corny flavor notes. The beer is not overly sweet nor overly bitter, and it has some hints of light green apple in the background and the typical corny overtones of a lager in this style.
Corona Premier has minimal bitterness to its finish and aftertaste, too. It has a corny sweetness to the finish, but there’s not much to report regarding this beer’s flavor.
This beer is about as flavorless as you can get while still drinking beer, not water.
It’s trendy for Corona drinkers to add a slice of lemon or lime to their beer. Adding a citrus wedge obliterates any natural flavor the beer might have had, instead dominating the planet with the natural tartness and acidity of the fruit.
Corona already has a somewhat citrus-forward flavor profile, but Corona Extra has little, if any, of this citrus character. Adding citrus doesn’t so much highlight any flavor the beer has as completely take over.
If you prefer your beer with some flavor and character, you might enjoy adding a bit of lime to your Corona. Otherwise, enjoy the beer as intended, with minimal taste and character.
It’s worth trying the beer with and without the citrus to see if you like it.
It’s worth noting that Corona Extra is sold in both cans and clear bottles. As you’ve probably noticed, most bottled beers are sold in dark brown (or green) bottles. This is no coincidence: the tinted glass filters out UV light that can cause the hop oils in the beer to spoil.
Because Corona is sold in clear bottles, the hop oils are more frequently and easily exposed to UV radiation. This leads to a “skunky” bitter flavor in the beer, massively affecting the beer’s flavor. If your Corona Premier has a strong, aromatic tang to it upon the first sip, it might, unfortunately, have been lightstruck. One remedy for this increased bitterness is to add lime and some salt.
The lime’s acidity, sweetness, and salt should balance out this flavor. However, this won’t return your Corona Premier to its previous clean, crisp taste.
What To Eat With Corona Premier
Corona’s website recommends that you enjoy Corona Premier with “bright, light flavors like grilled chicken, fish, and pork”.
Corona Premier’s light, inoffensive flavor would be dominated and obliterated by strongly flavored foods like, for example, much of Mexican cuisine. It’s easy to imagine yourself straddling a barbecue, grilling some marinated chicken skewers, while you sip on your Corona Premier. This beer would probably go well with most light, grilled meats, and vegetables.
With the addition of a lime wedge, we recommend enjoying your Corona Premier with a beautiful piece of fish. Pan-seared tuna goes great with light, crisp beers, like most other large pelagic fish.
Calories in Corona Premier
Corona Premier has only 90 calories. Much of this will be in its alcohol content, but it’s an impressive feat for Corona to reduce the calories of their beer without compromising heavily on ABV. Corona Premier only has 2.6g of carbs, too. Corona Premier’s advertising emphasizes casual entertainment, quality of life, and highly prized values among the increasingly health-conscious light beer market.
What Do Other People Think?
It’s always a good idea to consider the opinions of your fellow beer drinkers when examining a beer. We looked at various reviews and weighted the scores to give you an idea of how other beer drinkers feel about Corona Premier.
| Platform | Corona Premier |
| BeerAdvocate | 6.5 |
| Untappd | 5.8 |
| RateBeer | 5.6 |
| Drizly | 9.4 |
| Influenster | 9.2 |
| Average Score | 7.3 |
As you can see, Corona Premier enjoys some largely positive reviews. With an average score of 7.3, it’s a clear favorite among beer drinks.
Curiously, most experienced beer drinkers, who make up the majority of beer reviews, prefer strongly flavored beers. One would expect a mildly flavored beer like Corona Premier not to score quite as well. This is a beer for refreshing, not for savoring.
One Beeradvocate reviewer shared their Corona Premier experience.
“Goes down like water. Pours a light yellow. It’s not what I want out of a beer, but it’s pleasant enough going down. After a ten mile walk in the summer, I downed two of these straight out of the can in under four minutes and they were very refreshing. I wasn’t even a little buzzed afterwards either.
They have their place. Not as skunky as the regular brand. A bit of malt sweetness, some corny grain, but mostly water.”
Source
Note that the reviewer pointed out that Corona Premier is “not as skunky” as Corona’s flagship beer and that they consumed their beer canned, not bottled. With less risk of exposure to UV light, the canned Corona Premier is better at retaining its clean, crisp taste.
