Micheladas: A Spicy Beer Craze Made in Guadalajara

Among all the great food and drink that Mexico has to offer the world – taco, quesadilla, tequila, horchata – the michelada does not rank very high. Nor should it. Who in their right mind would drink beer laced with salsa, chile pepper, tomato juice and tabasco sauce?

But if the number of michelada advertisements in Guadalajara is any indication, Tapatios just can't get enough of the drink. In any commercial part of the city, you are bound to find at least a couple of places offering a one-liter Michelada in a large Styrofoam cup for as low as 30 pesos. The basic recipe is two beers with salt and lemon. Very often there is Clamato (clam juice and tomato sauce). As for the spicy stuff, that all depends on the cruelty of the bartender.
"Anybody who sells food and alcohol can prepare a michelada," says Juan Ontiveros Gomez, one of the pioneers in the micheladas business. "You don't need [official] permission because it is nothing more than pure beer with some common ingredients."
The taste of the michelada does not sit well with many Americans, says Ontiveros. His gringo customers prefer drinking plain beer in a bottle. "The michelada irritates their system. It is a stomach bomb."
The history of the drink is about as spotty as its taste. Some say it dates back to the early part of the Mexican Revolution, when a colonel named Agustin Michel stepped into a bar in San Luis Potosi and made that first fateful order. Others claim the drink was invented in Baja California and subsequently exported to Guadalajara in the late 1990s. But that would not explain why a number of American expatriates in the city swear they were drinking micheladas at least fifteen years ago.
There is also some doubt as to where the name of the drink came from. That michelada derived from the last name of the Mexican colonel is a convenient explanation. But others believe that michelada is a shortened form of "mi chela helada," which translates to English as "My Cold Beer."
According to Guillermo Zarate Aguirre, that theory does not hold much water. "It cannot mean 'Mi Chela Helada' because the michelada is more than just a simple frosty beer. The reality is that the taste is radically changed, by making it spicy and delicious, and removing the sour taste that characterizes a regular beer."
Zarate Aguirre is the Commercial Director of Compañia Alimenticia del Norte, a Saltillo-based firm that produces a prepared blend of michelada ingredients called MicheMix. Sold in four different flavors – depending on spices and spiciness – MicheMix is a convenient way to make your own michelada. Just add five capfuls to your favorite brand of beer.
So whether you go out to a bar, or try it in the privacy of your own home, drink a michelada at least once during your time in Mexico. Think of it as a form of cultural immersion, or improving cross-border diplomatic relations. Or hell, maybe just to have a little fun. "For nine dollars, you can leave here good and drunk," Ontiveros Gomez said.