Michelada

Ingredients

Rim

• 1lime wedge
• Tajín, or coarse salt with chilli powder

Base

• juice of 2 limes
• 1 tbspWorcestershire sauce
• 1 tbspMaggi or soy sauce
• 1 tsphot sauce, Valentina or similar
• a pinch of salt
• black pepper

Beer

• 1 bottlecold Mexican lager

Also

• plenty of ice

For a michelada preparada

• 150 mlClamato or tomato juice

Directions

1. The terms are worth getting right, because they vary by region: a chelada is beer with lime and salt only, and a michelada adds the sauces. In much of Mexico a michelada is exactly that, with no tomato juice at all.
2. The tomato or Clamato version is a michelada preparada or an ojo rojo, and it is the one most people outside Mexico picture.
3. Chill the beer and the glass thoroughly, and use a tall glass or a schooner.
4. Rub a lime wedge round the rim of the glass, then roll the outside edge in Tajín on a plate.
5. Coat the outside of the rim only. Dipping the mouth of the glass in seasoning drops it straight into the beer.
6. Fill the glass right to the top with ice, so the beer stays cold as you top it up.
7. Put the lime juice, Worcestershire, Maggi, hot sauce, salt and pepper in the bottom of the glass and stir them together.
8. Build the base in the glass first and mix it before the beer goes in, because sauces poured on top of beer sit in a slick and never combine.
9. Add the Clamato or tomato juice now if you are making it preparada.
10. Now pour the cold beer in slowly, tilting the glass.
11. Pour it down the side of a tilted glass. Poured straight in it foams over and you lose half the beer and all the carbonation.
12. Stir once, gently, with a long spoon, and no more than that.
13. Stir it minimally. Every stir knocks bubbles out, and a flat michelada is a sad thing.
14. Taste it and adjust the lime and the hot sauce, which is the whole point of building it in the glass.
15. Top up with more beer from the bottle as you drink it, which is how it is served.
16. Use a light Mexican lager rather than anything hoppy or dark, because the beer is a base for the seasoning rather than a flavour in its own right.
17. It is drunk cold in the heat, at cantinas and beaches and as a hangover remedy, and cantinas in Mexico City and San Luis Potosí both claim to have invented it.
18. Every bar has its own mix and the proportions here are a starting point, not a rule.

Technique

• Clamato is tomato juice with clam broth and it is what most Mexican bars use for the preparada.
• Elaborate versions garnished with prawns, tamarind candy and whole snacks are a modern bar phenomenon.
• The rim seasoning is as much a part of it as the drink.

Substitutions

• Tomato juice with a splash of clam juice, in place of Clamato.
• Any light lager, and any Mexican hot sauce.

Variations

• Chelada, with lime and salt only.
• Ojo rojo, with Clamato and more Worcestershire.
• With tamarind or mango, which is common on the coast.

History

A beer cocktail mixed with lime juice, various spices and often tomato or clamato juice, served in a glass rimmed with salt or chili powder, generally understood to have developed in Mexico sometime in the 1900s as a way to make beer, often served warm or at inconsistent quality in earlier decades, more palatable and refreshing through the addition of lime, salt and spice. Its exact inventor and precise date of first creation are not well documented, and numerous competing folk explanations exist for the drink’s name, none definitively confirmed. Regional and personal variations are extensive, with some versions built simply on lime and salt while others add a complex mix of hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and tomato juice, without any single recipe being treated as the sole correct version across Mexico.

Frequently asked questions

What is Michelada?

Michelada is a cocktail from Mexico: cold beer built with lime, salt, chili sauce and a rimmed glass. A beer cocktail mixed with lime juice, various spices and often tomato or clamato juice, served in a glass rimmed with salt or chili powder, generally understood to have developed in Mexico sometime in the 1900s as a way to make beer, often served warm or at inconsistent quality in earlier decades, more palatable and refreshing through the addition of lime, salt and spice. Its exact inventor and precise date of first creation are not well documented, and numerous competing folk explanations exist for the drink’s name, none definitively confirmed. Regional and personal variations are extensive, with some versions built simply on lime and salt while others add a complex mix of hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and tomato juice, without any single recipe being treated as the sole correct version across Mexico.

How long does Michelada take to make?

Michelada takes 5 min of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes 1 drink. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Michelada?

Yes, within limits. Tomato juice with a splash of clam juice, in place of Clamato. Any light lager, and any Mexican hot sauce.

What is the most important thing to get right in Michelada?

Build the base in the glass first and mix it before the beer goes in, because sauces poured on top of beer sit in a slick and never combine.