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Chabela Cortez

chabela cortez

chabela cortez“For me, this is the drink of choice in my near-native Tucson, when the days are too hot,” says Jay Kuehner. “On road trips in central California, this drink would come in huge, frosty mugs, garnished with carrots and celery and sometimes shrimp.” Kuehner says the Chabela allows for virtually limitless garnish options, including lime, jalapeño pepper, celery and cherry tomatoes.

2 ½ oz. fresh tomato juice (see below)
1 oz. fresh lime juice
¼ oz. chamoy (see note)
¼ oz. simple syrup
¼-½ oz. hot sauce (such as Tabasco or Tapatio)
½ oz. olive brine (Kuehner uses Goya)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1 bottle Mexican beer
Tools: shaker
Glass: 12-oz. chilled beer glass with salt rim
Garnish: shrimp and lime wedge

Salt the rim of a glass and set aside. Stir or shake all ingredients except the beer with ice. Pour, ice included, into glass and top with beer. Garnish. Serve with the bottle containing any remaining beer to the side of the glass so that it can be added as desired.

To make fresh tomato juice, puree fresh, ripe tomatoes, preferably heirloom, and strain through a sieve. “In the summer, we pick heirlooms, and they are so juicy, you can just muddle them or push them through a mill,” says Kuehner.

Note: Chamoy is a tangy, salty and slightly sweet sauce made from pickled fruit. It’s available in many Latin grocery stores. If you can’t find it, Kuehner says it can be omitted, but adds that it’s worth hunting down: “It always gets interesting reactions.”

Jay Kuehner, Seattle

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