Lime Flu

In Saturday's WSJ, Eric Felten wrote on a A Curious Treat From Down Mexico Way:

With Cinco de Mayo approaching there will be plenty of Margaritas and Mexican beer served in the next week. But it may be a good time to try out a quirky quaff popular in Mexico that has struggled to find an audience in the United States: The Michelada, a combination of beer, lime juice, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce served over ice in a salt-rimmed glass.

As previously noted here, I've enjoyed my share of Micheladas in Mexico over the years. While they are wonderful way to whet your whistle after a scorching day in the Mexican sun, I can understand why they haven't really caught on with American beer drinkers. My experience has been that after downing one Michelada, you're ready to go back to good old fashioned regular beer. While the combo of beer, lime, salt, and spice is good, it's not a well that you can go back to often after the initial draw. But perhaps I just wasn't using the right beer:

So, we have beer on ice flavored with lime juice, Worcestershire sauce and a Mexican hot sauce such as Cholula -- but what beer? The most traditional approach to the Michelada is to make it with a blond Mexican beer such as Tecate, Sol, Corona or Modelo Especial. But many prefer using a darker Mexican beer such as Negra Modelo, and I'm in that camp. To my taste, that sort of flavorful and slightly sweet beer stands up better to the savory and spicy sauces, let alone the ice, which are all likely to bully a lighter lager. Negra Modelo works well, but after trying a variety of similar beers, I settled on the Texas brew Shiner Bock as my Michelada beer of choice.

Interesting. I believe that all the Micheladas I've consumed were made with Sol. Using Negra Modelo, Indio, or maybe even a bock could improve its drinking repeatability. Will have to keep that in mind next time around. By the way, Shiner Bock is possibly the most overrated beer in America (although Fat Tire gives it a run in that category).