The Corona Sunrise turns a familiar lager bottle into a striped orange cocktail. Tequila strengthens the beer, orange juice softens its dry edge, and grenadine sinks through the bottle to create the red-to-gold “sunrise.” It is part beer cocktail, part visual trick, and deliberately easy to assemble.
The drink exploded across TikTok in 2021, but it was not born in one clearly documented viral post. Similar Corona-and-Tequila-Sunrise builds appeared online before that wave. Corona has since published the drink in its own recipe collection, confirming that the combination is more than an invented menu rumor.
What Corona Actually Publishes
Corona USA names five components: one Corona Extra, tequila, orange juice, grenadine and a lime wedge. The official directions say to start with the bottle filled to the top of the label, add a shot of tequila, a splash of orange juice and a dash of grenadine, then finish with lime.
Those are real brand instructions, but they are not precise bar measures. This recipe interprets a shot as 1 1/2 ounces, a splash as 1 ounce and a dash as 1/4 ounce. The amounts fit a 12-ounce bottle once roughly 2 1/2 ounces of beer have been removed.
Corona lists the recipe for making at home. It does not give a national bar price or say that the drink is permanently available at restaurants. Any venue version may use different pours.
Where the Viral Drink Came From
News coverage documented the Corona Sunrise as a TikTok trend by March 2021, with another wave of attention that summer. The format is a bottle-built variation on the modern Tequila Sunrise, replacing much of the orange juice with pale lager.
At least one published video demonstrated a Corona Sunrise in 2018 using tequila, orange juice, grenadine and a Coronita. That does not necessarily identify the inventor either. It shows why assigning the drink to one 2021 account would be misleading.
Corona’s current page credits Joel Benjamin for Drizly, but it does not say he invented the drink. The defensible history is simple: earlier versions existed, TikTok made it famous in 2021, and Corona later adopted it as an official brand recipe.
Why Typical Corona Sunrises Fail
The biggest mistake is ignoring the volume. Add tequila and juice to a nearly full bottle and foam will race out of the neck before the grenadine goes in. Lower the beer to about the top of the label and use a funnel.
The second mistake is adding too much syrup. Half an ounce or more can turn the bottom of the bottle cloying. One-quarter ounce creates visible color without burying the beer and agave. Swirl gently before sipping so the first taste is not straight grenadine.
Finally, measure the tequila. The lager makes the cocktail easy to drink, but the full serving contains nearly two standard drinks. A casual free-pour can push it higher without looking stronger.
The Key Technique: Never Plug and Flip
Some viral videos show a lime pushed into a beer bottle or a thumb sealing the mouth before the bottle is inverted. That is messy and unnecessary after adding juice and syrup. Carbonation, a narrow neck and a warm hand can produce a forceful spray.
Keep every ingredient cold. Funnel in tequila and orange juice slowly, add grenadine last, and make one controlled swirl over the sink. The gradient will soften but remain visible. Place the lime wedge at the opening instead of forcing it inside.
Reserve the beer poured out at the start. Serving it in a small side glass avoids waste and makes the alcohol calculation honest. If you drink it, it is part of the cocktail serving even though it is not in the finished bottle.
Make Corona Sunrises for a Group
For six drinks, combine 9 oz (270 ml) blanco tequila and 6 oz (180 ml) orange juice in a small pitcher. Chill it for up to four hours. Keep six beers cold and measure 1 3/4 oz (52 ml) of the tequila-orange batch into each prepared bottle.
Add 1/4 oz (7 ml) grenadine to each bottle only at serving time. Do not batch the beer in a pitcher; it will flatten, and the individual bottle presentation is the point. Put a funnel, jigger and small glass beside the bottles so guests can build without spills.
The Corona Sunrise Mocktail
The zero-proof version keeps the same visual structure with a 0.0% pale lager and 0.0% tequila alternative. That dry, agave-like layer matters. Leaving it out produces orange-flavored beer rather than a convincing sunrise cocktail.
Use a true 0.0% lager if avoiding alcohol completely. Products labeled “nonalcoholic” can legally contain a small amount, and some alcohol-free spirit alternatives also carry trace alcohol. Build and swirl it exactly like the original.
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