This is the best michelada I have ever personally had, and I think you’ll be knocked out by the results—without once noticing the lack of alcohol. The drink employs Este’s house-made petróleo (Spanish for “oil”), a sauce made by mixing together different sauces. In Mexico it’s typical to use Maggi, Worcestershire, and either Tabasco or Valentina, but Este plusses things up with a house-made chile pepper vinegar.
Photo: Deli Studio
1 serving
- Combine the lime juice, petróleo, and sangrita together in the bottom of a pint glass. Crack open a cold beer and fill to the top, reserving the remaining beer in your can. Refill the glass once you reach halfway.
Notes:
- ● A note on petróleo: At Este, they build this mixture using a quarter ounce of Maggi, a quarter ounce of Worcestershire sauce, and a half ounce of a house-made chile pepper vinegar, which is made using a mixture of ancho and arbol chiles. “You can substitute Tabasco or Valentina if you need to for this,” says Este beverage director Patrick Wasetis.
- ● A note on smoked tomato sangrita: To build this, first make your clarified tomato water. Juice 12 ounces of tomatoes and bring to a simmer in a saucepot. “This is an easy hack for clarifying,” says Patrick Wasetis, “because all the particulate matter will stick together once it simmers.” From there, strain the tomato mixture through a paper coffee filter and preserve the clear liquid in a sterilized container. Weigh the liquid, then add smoked Maldon salt to the finished mixture at 5% by weight. Once you have this smoked clarified tomato water, take one ounce of it and add a half ounce of orange juice, a quarter ounce of grapefruit juice, a quarter ounce of lime juice, and one bar spoon of pomegranate molasses for a finished sangrita. Truth be told, this is a pretty complex process; for a simpler route at home, add the petróleo, fruit juice, and pomegranate molasses to your favorite Bloody Mary mix.