A new friend here in the rainy (yesterday anyway) Puget Sound lowlands is hosting a shindig this holiday weekend and has been pestering me to help him get things put together.
Thankfully he’s a hands-on guy and will do his own cooking, but he’s needed me on a consultant-type basis (for lack of a better term) to get some of the details right. Seems he spent a blurry week at South by Southwest in Austin a few years ago, gorging on cheap (but oh-so-tasty) brisket tacos and an assortment of regional beers and cocktails and wants to recreate that fine dining experience for his guests this weekend.
We’ve worked through the logistics and gear needed to smoke roughly forty-five pounds of brisket and transform that into the ambrosia that a true brisket taco or tostada can be.
There’s been greater discussion as to what might genuinely constitute an authentic array of beverages, beyond the expected medley of regional beers.
Turns out my friend grew particularly fond of Micheladas during his Texas sojourn a few years ago. Fully assenting to my labeling of Micheladas as a ‘dive-bar cocktail’ his demand to include them on the menu never wavered.
We together researched and carefully tested a number of recipes; this one seem to us to be the most authentic – though it’s critical to note that this fine beverage should include what most beer aficionados would consider to be a ‘cheap Mexican lager’.
(So as not to offend anyone’s sensibilities as to what a ‘cheap Mexican lager’ is, read Serious Eats take on the topic here.)
Keep ’em cold and keep ‘em coming.
Lime Wedge
Kosher Salt
Ice
1 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. tomato juice
1/2 oz. fresh orange juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Hot sauce (Crystal at our bar) to taste
Top with a cold Mexican lager
Rub a pint glass rim with the lime and dip in the salt. Fill the glass 2/3 full with ice. Add the lime juice, tomato juice, orange juice, Worcestershire and hot sauce; top off with the cold Mexican lager of choice (see comments above) and stir to mix.
Enjoy.
