Prawn Michelada

History & Origin

The michelada is, quite possibly, the most democratic and brilliant invention in Mexico's drinking culture. A beer transformed into a cocktail, a glass that contains all the flavour of a country: lime, chilli, salt, umami and the fizzy freshness of cold beer. And when prawn juice is added to the arsenal, the michelada reaches its most powerful and maritime form: the Prawn Michelada. The origin of the michelada is disputed, as befits something truly great. Some place it in San Luis Potosí in the mid-twentieth century, where Captain Michel Ésper mixed his beer with lime and salt. Others claim it in Veracruz, land of seafood and heat, where adding clam or prawn juice to beer was common practice long before the term became widespread. What is indisputable is that the michelada is Mexican to its core. The prawn version is especially popular in the coastal states: Sinaloa, Sonora, Veracruz, Nayarit and Jalisco are the great temples of this drink. In the seafood markets of the port of Mazatlán or in the marisquerías of the Mercado de Antequera in Oaxaca, a Prawn Michelada is served in a tall chilli-salt-rimmed glass, filled with clamato, prawn juice, sauces and a cold beer poured over the top. The result is almost a cold soup, a liquid aguachile, a celebration of the sea in a glass. Chamoy, that sweet-sour-spicy sauce made from preserved fruits, adds the most Mexican dimension: the sweet-sour-hot contrast that defines so many street food snacks. Maggi Sauce adds depth of umami, Valentina provides just the right heat, and the chilli salt on the rim of the glass turns every sip into a complete sensory experience. It is breakfast, aperitif, remedy and party all in one glass.