Michelada

What is a Michelada?

The Michelada is a spicy, intensely flavored, refreshing Mexican beer drink.

It is also known as a cerveza preparada (prepared beer) on account of the Michelada preparacion, which is the mix of ingredients being added to the beer. They include lime juice, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings.

The beer drink is also popular in other Latin American countries such as Chile and Colombia. The flavor of a Michelada should be rich and the beer carbonation should be noticeable. 

Origins

The Michelada builds on the Chelada drink in that it is spiked with lime juice and salt, but adds the picante ingredients which account for its intense flavor. The explanations of its exact origin are invariably credited to a man named Michel who lived in a town called San Luis Potosi. 

Who was Michel?

One story claims that he was a military general during the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Don Augusto Michel had a habit of frequenting a certain cantina in San Luis Potosi where he ordered his chela (cold beer) with lime juice, salt and a bit of hot sauce. 

Another even more popular story says that a civil engineer named Michel Esper Jorge invented the drink. Before an early tennis match at the Club Deportivo Potosino he was feeling less than well (a night of drinking was involved). He walked up to the bar and asked the bar tender for a beer, ice, lime juice, a few salsas and salt.

He doctored up a cold, picante beer mix and drank it pretty fast. When the bartender asked him what kind of a chelada that was, he said "Michelada".

Classic Michelada Ingredients

Chili Lime Salt. The most popular brand in Mexico is the Tajin seasoning. You can use an equivalent salt mix as long as it is a bit spicy and a bit tart. It is used both to rim the glass and to flavor the drink.

Lime juice. Freshly squeezed, from chilled fruit. 

Maggi seasoning. This liquid seasoning is usually sold in the Latin or Asian sauces and spices sections of most grocery stores. Its flavor is a combination of salty and umami and gives the beer drink a lot of depth. Substitute with soy sauce if you cannot find it.

Worcestershire sauce. In Mexico it is known as salsa Ingles (English sauce).  

Hot sauce. Salsa Tabasco is popular choice but we also like it with Cholula. 

Best beer. You can use either light or dark Mexican lager, but most recipes call for cerveza oscura (amber beer in the style of Vienna lager). Dos Equis, Negra Modelo and Victoria are suitable brands and their caramel notes work very well with the rest of the ingredients. You can also use Sol, Tecate or Corona. If you are looking to mix a Michelada with craft beer go for flavorful Vienna lagers. 

Ice. Only a few cubes. 

How to Make a Michelada Beer

• To make the Michelada first wet the rim of a glass with a lime wedge and dip in a shallow dish with chile lime salt (#1 and #2 above). Pick a glass or beer mug with more than 12-ounce cpacity in order to contain all the ingredients.

• Next pour the freshly squeezed lime juice, the Maggi seasoning, a few dashes Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco and add a bit of chili lime salt.

TIP: A high-quality citrus squeezer is very helpful for juicing the limes, especially if you are making several drinks at the same time. 

• Stir the Michelada preparacion mixture (#8 below) then fill the glass with dark beer being careful not to make contact with the salt rim. 

• Stir the entire drink, add a couple of ice cubes and enjoy!

What does Michelada Taste Like?

For many the flavors in a Michelada are strictly an acquired taste but I'd say if you haven't had one you are missing out. It tastes wonderfully complex, yet light. 

It is refreshing, picante and umami, a bit salty, a bit tart, with wonderful malty notes from the amber lager. You just have to try it for yourself.

Store-bought Options

Pre-mixed cans of Michelada, Michelada mixes and Michelada cups are widely available for purchase but in our opinion all fall short of mixing your own Michelada beer with the actual ingredients that made it famous. 

Michelada vs Clamato

While the primary difference between Chelada and Michelada is the addition of spices, the Michelada combined with yet another ingredient becomes a new drink altogether.

Known as Michelada con Clamato, Clamato con Chela or just Clamato the variation drink is simply a Michelada prepared beer with clamato juice. 

Alternatively you can substitute tomato juice with a bit of clam juice for store-bought clamato. Some people actually add minced clams into the drink itself and others garnish it with shrimp to create a veritable shrimp cocktail. 

Michelada Variations

Outside the clamato themed variations of Michelada described above there are numerous others that truly transform the original beer cocktail. 

Some of them are outright on the sweet side and the combination of spice, acidity, fruitiness and crisp lager is not to miss!

• Michelada de Mango. Mixed with ½ cup mango nectar, 12 oz light beer (cerveza clara), salt and pepper to taste or a pinch of Tajin, juice of 1 lime, couple of dashes of Chamoy sauce (pickled fruit sauce).
• Michelada de Maracuyá. Mixed with ½ cup passion fruit juice (juego de maracuya), 12 oz light lager (cerveza clara), 1 dash of hot sauce, juice of ½ lime,  sugar, salt and pepper to taste, 3 ice cubes and garnished with mint.
• Michelada de Tamarinda. For this version no lime is used. Instead tart tamarind juice or paste, hot sauce, Worcestershire, soy sauce, salt and pepper are blended with a bit of ice, transferred to a salt rimmed glass and topped with beer. 
• Michelada Chilena. This version is prepared with merken, a smoked chili spice very common in Chile and fresh, finely diced green or red chili peppers. After the glass is rimmed with salt and merken, the juice of 1 lime, salt, black pepper and merken to taste are added, then the fine diced peppers and finally a cerveza rubia (light lager) and a couple of ice cubes.