Oh, it's a British beauty, a long-necked blond with a pale complexion, as coveted as an English rose.

It's brewed in England, but Bud Light Lime is a Canadian hit and it's one of the hottest-selling beers at the LCBO.

But the Corona look-alike in the clear bottle swept into GTA liquor stores at the beginning of May. Since then, it's moved into the top 10 selling beers at the LCBO, having had unprecedented sales growth despite often being out of stock for weeks.

Brewed by Anheuser-Busch in the U.K., and distributed here by Labatt, the beer came to Ontario as an import and by July 11, the LCBO had sold 70,000 cases.

Twelve-packs leave the Beer Store just as fast as they come in. On the city's east side, a store sold its shipment of 144 cases of Bud Light Lime bottles in a day, said an employee.

"What's salient is that this product has made it into the top 10 after only two months of sales in LCBO stores," says company spokesperson Chris Layton. "If this growth continues it could continue to move up the list. "

Like its distant cousin from a decade ago, Mike's Hard Lemonade, the naturally lime-flavoured beer has created a sober buzz.

Fans of the light beer, which has been selling in the U.S. since April last year, used Facebook to petition Labatt to bring the beer here and supporters on the social networking site now number almost 60,000.

But not all of the comments have been good. One likens finding the beer to rare superhero sightings: "is it a bird is it a plane no it just sold out it is moving so fast, you just can't find it to buy." Another posting says, "Everytime (sic) I go to buy it they are out, if you don't have it on the shelves ... kind of pointless."

The reason for the shortage is that demand surpassed even the supplier's expectations, says Layton. "It was such a fast seller, and there was such an unanticipated demand, there were periods of time that some liquor stores were sold out." Six packs of cans, brewed in the U.S., were introduced to the LCBO a couple of weeks ago to ensure there was enough product on the shelves.

Labatt started producing the cans a year earlier than planned and is now brewing more of the beer to meet demand.

Layton credits several factors for the brew's success including the clear bottle, the continued popularity of lager and lime and timing. "Summer is beer time in our business," says Layton.

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And he says, "every so often you get a product that captures the public's imagination. Word of mouth is probably an underestimated factor ... People try it and tell their friends and it really does drive sales ... and popularity starts to build."