Anheuser-Busch Test Markets Margarita-Flavored Beer

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Apparently the new malt beverage is to be called Lima-A-Rita. AB-InBev received labeling permission for the 6-percent-alcohol brew in January.

You’d think that the brain trust at Anheuser-Busch InBev would have considered the margarita earlier. After all, the blend of tequila, lime juice and orange-flavored liqueur is one of the most popular mixed drinks in America.

But, no. When the brewery first looked south of the border for inspiration in 2007, it brought back the abomination that is Chelada — a beer-and-clam-juice concoction that none but the most iron-gutted Cholo could keep down.

Five years later it seems that AB InBev has finally wised up with a more quaffable brew known for now as “Test Beer L” but which will eventually be marketed as “Limerita” or “Lime-Rita.”
Gut Check was at a party last weekend with one of the brewer’s marketing reps when we were handed a can of the stuff. And we gotta admit that it tastes amazingly like a bona fide margarita. We’ve heard that the brewer is hoping to sell the drink at bars and restaurants that don’t have a full liquor license and are therefore prohibited from pouring actual cocktails.

We only wish we had had some salt to sprinkle around the rim of our Test Beer L. And that we had kept the can. It’s a classic.