A michelada (Spanish pronunciation: [mitʃeˈlaða]) is a Mexican cerveza preparada made with beer, lime juice, and assorted sauces, spices, and peppers. It is served in a chilled, salt-rimmed glass. There are numerous variations of this beverage throughout Mexico and Latin America.
In Latin America, micheladas are often believed to be a folk remedy for hangovers. There are different variations of micheladas; for example, in Mexico City, the most common form is prepared with beer, lime, salt, and particular hot sauces or chile slices. There are several other optional ingredients, such as Maggi sauce, Worcestershire sauce, chamoy powder, serrano peppers, Camaronazo, Clamato, or slices of orange.
Variations
There are a variety of types of micheladas. For example, clamato contains clam juice and tomato juice. A chelada contains simply lime and originally sea salt, but often simply regular table salt. A cubana contains Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, chile, and salt. Depending on the region of Mexico, the preparation will vary. For people unfamiliar with the local area, it is best to ask how micheladas are prepared before ordering if there is concern for what ingredients will be used. In some regions a chelada is a michelada, and vice versa.
Origin
There are two popular versions of the origin and etymology of the michelada.
One concerns a Michel Ésper at Club Deportivo Potosino in San Luis PotosÃ, Mexico. Ésper used to ask for his beer with lime, salt, ice, and a straw, in a special cup called "chabela", as if it were a beer lemonade. The members of the club started asking for beer as "Michel's lemonade", with the name shortening over time to michelada. As time went by, other sauces were added to the original recipe. Today, it contains the same ingredients as a chelada but contains ice and chili powder on the rim.
Another etymology states that michelada is a portmanteau of mi chela helada. The word chela is a popular term for a beer in Mexico. When you ask for a chela, you are asking for a cold beer; therefore the phrase mi chela helada means "my ice cold beer".
Commercialization
In the 2010s, major U.S. beer producers began marketing cervezas preparadas, illustrating the wide variety of recipes in the chelada/michelada category and meeting its popularity among the country's Latin American population. For example, Miller Brewing Company produces Miller Chill, a "Chelada-style light lager with a hint of salt and lime". Anheuser-Busch makes Budweiser Chelada and Bud Light Chelada, a combination of lager, clamato, lime juice, and salt. As of 2012, Tecate now offers a michelada flavored with lime and spices. In 2015,CervecerÃa Centro Americana, a Guatemalan Brewery, released a Michelada under the trade name Dorada Draft Michelada Chiltepe. The beverage is spiced with chipotle peppers, the most widely used peppers in the region.
Alternatively, many consumers are known to use Bloody Mary mix or similar pre-made mixes with lager to make micheladas.
See also
- Shandy
- Beer cocktail
- Bloody Mary (cocktail)
- Caesar (cocktail)
References
External links
- Variations on Micheladas
