The Michelada is Mexico's most popular savoury beer cocktail — Mexican lager, clamato-style tomato & lime drink, fresh lime, salt and a few dashes of hot sauce. Five minutes from start to glass. Perfect for Sunday brunch, hot afternoons or hangover relief.
There are essentially two schools of Michelada in Mexico: the simple one (beer + lime + salt + hot sauce) and the cubana or preparada one (the simple version plus clamato-style tomato & lime drink). What most Mexican bars in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia serve, and what most people mean when they say "Michelada", is the cubana version. That's the recipe below.
The trick is to use the right clamato-style drink. The only one widely available in Europe is American Mott's, which has a different profile from the Mexican original. We make Zumato in Spain with the Mexican recipe — closer to what you'd drink in a cantina in Mexico City.
Rub a lime wedge around the rim of a tall beer glass or pint mug. Dip the rim in Tajín (Mexican chili-lime salt). Set aside.
Fill the glass with ice. Add Zumato, fresh lime juice, hot sauce, and (if you like the full preparada flavour) Worcestershire and Maggi. Stir briefly to combine.
Slowly top up with a cold Mexican lager. Pour gently against the side of the glass to preserve the foam. Don't stir hard — beer loses carbonation fast.
Garnish with a lime wedge. Serve immediately. The classic move is to leave the rest of the beer bottle next to the glass — top up as you drink.
For a busy bar, pre-batch the Zumato + lime + sauces in a squeeze bottle. Per Michelada: 90 ml of the base mix + cold beer = round in 15 seconds.
Lager + lime + salt + hot sauce. No tomato drink. The original purist version.
Lager + lime + salt + ice. No tomato, no hot sauce. The minimalist cousin.
The full one with shrimp and cucumber slices on top. A meal in a glass.
Michelada with tamarind candy ("dulces enchilados") rim and gummy candy garnish. The fun one.
1 L bottles for Michelada bar service, English-speaking team, scaled volume pricing.
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