Contents
If you’re a tourist arrival in Mexico, then you’re a gringo. You are a good gringo if you honor the traditions of the descendants of the Aztecs and do not climb “into a strange monastery with your charter.” But you immediately become a bad gringo if you don’t know how to drink tequila properly. Especially if you’re used to drinking it with salt and lemon – “Lick, Shoot, Bite!” – only a very bad gringo drinks tequila like that.
Gringos aren’t always bad. So, often, Latin Americans call the visiting audience. It’s just slang. But there are cases when this statement acquires a derogatory meaning, in a certain context. You can be 100% sure that you will be called a “bad” gringo if you behave inappropriately in the company of a Mexican. For example, if you offer him to drink tequila with lime and salt.
It so happened that many drinking traditions are imposed on us by manufacturers of alcoholic beverages. Drinking tequila with salt and lemon has been instilled in us for a long time, not without the participation of such giants as the notorious Olmeca and Sauza. Lick, Shoot, Bite! (Lick, Swallow, Bite!) Propaganda went on all fronts, from advertising posters to Hollywood movies. And so it happened. In the homeland of this wonderful drink, Mexico, they drink it in a completely different way. Let’s figure out how to drink tequila in an educated society.
How to drink tequila if you’re a bad gringo
If you are a bad gringo, you will drink tequila like everyone else – with salt and lime, even worse with lemon. Another marketing ploy. You lick the outer part of the palm between your thumb and forefinger, put a pinch of salt there. In the same fingers you will take a slice of lime or lemon. Then everything is according to the Lick, Shoot, Bite scheme: you lick the salt, drink tequila in one fell swoop, eat a lime / lemon. Done, you’re a bad gringo. You’re a bad Gringo German if you use ground cinnamon instead of salt and orange instead of lemon.
You’re a good gringo if you drink tequila with salt and lemon like these guys…
Where this ritual came from is difficult to say. There is an opinion that in the 1930s, tequila with salt and lime was prescribed by doctors to prevent the Spanish flu that hit northern Mexico. You can often hear a more “romantic” version, they say, this is how Latin American peasants drank tequila in the fields: they licked off sweat, drank crappy mezcal and ate what came across – lime. It sounds very unbelievable.
How to drink tequila if you are a poor gringo
If you’re a poor gringo, you’re probably going to drink cheap Auchan tequila. Cheap tequila is a bottle labeled silver, blanca (aka plata) or gold. This is tequila without aging, a maximum of 2 months, which cannot boast of a refined taste and aroma. You can read more about the classification of a Mexican drink in this article. Tasting cheap tequila is difficult, but there are at least a couple of ways to brighten up its crappy taste.
Drink only real tequila, the label of which says “100% puro de agave” or simply “agave”. If there is no such inscription, then the drink, most likely, contains up to 49% of cheap corn or cane alcohol. Only a very, very bad gringo can drink this kind of tequila!
Tequila with sangrita for the poor gringo
In general, Mexicans most often drink tequila with sangrita. This is such a non-alcoholic mixture of tomato juice, an analogue of non-alcoholic Bloody Mary. Sangrita is traditionally made with 2 parts tomato juice, 1 part orange juice, ½ part lime juice, and crushed green chili to taste. To drink cheap tequila with sangrita, you need to take a small sip of sangrita, then drink tequila (30-50 ml), take another sip of sangrita and snack on a small slice of lime / lemon.
In a big company, cheap tequila can be drunk a little differently. Entertainment is called Banderita (Banderita – from the Spanish “flag”). Pour sangrita into the first shot, tequila into the second, lime juice into the third. Drinks in glasses are the same color as the colors of the Mexican flag – hence the name. Drink according to the following scheme: sangrita, tequila, lime / lemon juice. Done, you poor but drunk and merry gringo.
Banderita for the poor gringo
Mexican “ruff” for the poor gringo
Corona Extra – the eternal companion of teka
It is believed that 100% puro de agave tequila does not cause a hangover. If you don’t interfere. But you’re a poor gringo and you don’t have much cheap tequila. In this case, you drink Mexican “ruff”. To do this, you mix 33 ml of tequila and 330 ml of light lager beer. You know what to do next – you were born and raised in a concrete box built in the USSR. But if things have gone uphill for you, and a couple of extra pesos are lying around in your pocket, then be sure to buy a box of Corona Extra – Mexicans drink tequila only with it.
Tequila without a Crown is a peso down the drain.
You can meet guests at a party in a very original way, however, it is not for all poor gringos. Buy some lemons, cut them in half and remove the core. Cut off a small piece of zest from the bottom of the halves – the original “glass” is ready. Dip the edges of the “pollimone” in salt and pour the chilled tequila inside. Slip a “glass” to a newly arrived guest. Done, you hospitable gringo!
Cocktail Tequila Boom or Rapido
Pour a little tequila into a glass with a thick bottom and add carbonated water of your choice, preferably sweet – Sprite or 7 Up. Cover the glass with a pack of napkins or a round beer fire (aka a coaster). Hit the covered glass sharply on the table and drink the foamy mixture in one gulp. Great, you’ve just learned how to make Tequila Boom, which the Spanish-Mexicans call Rapido. One can go further and add a helmet and a bell/gong to the Rapido ritual. Don’t understand what I mean? Watch the video below:
If a girl drinks vodka, then she has a dark past, if she drinks tequila, then she has a bright future!
How to drink tequila if you are a rich gringo
If you are a rich gringo, you can afford expensive, aged tequila: reposado, añejo or extra añejo. Reposado tequila is not aged for long, up to one year, añejo – up to 3 years, extra añejo – usually up to 6 years. Good tequila can be compared to good cognac. If you are not an idiot and do not drink Martel cognacs with cola, then the culture of drinking cognac and the 3K rule are not an empty phrase for you. You need to drink an expensive Mexican drink slowly, from a snifter or a heavy glass with thick walls. It is not necessary to heat the glass strongly with your hands – in tequila it is not the smell that is valued, but the unique taste.
A rich gringo can afford tacos with tequila
If you are a rich gringo, you can afford Tabasco sauce and make delicious sangrita. To do this, take 2/3 natural tomato juice, 1/3 natural orange juice without pulp, about 7, and preferably 8 large limes (only juice is needed), salt and Tabasco sauce to taste. Mix all the ingredients in a large jug, adjust the taste so that none of the components stand out. The perfect sangrita is ready. Take a small sip of good tequila, but don’t swallow it – hold it between your lips and teeth – feel its great taste for a couple of seconds. Drink twice as much perfect sangrita. Repeat the procedure as many times as your conscience and health allow.
If your pockets are full of pesos, then you are not averse to buying a bottle of good tequila and a bottle of Cointreau liqueur. Don’t forget to grab a few fragrant limes. Congratulations, you just bought everything you need for the legendary Margarita cocktail. Like a decent gringo, you will mix in a shaker with plenty of crushed ice 3 parts tequila, 1 part Cointreau and 1 part lime juice. Before that, on a margarita cocktail glass, you will make a salty crunch: dip the rim of the glass with lime juice, and then in salt on a saucer. All the wisdom of making a Margarita cocktail is described in this article.
If you are a smart gringo
If you’re a smart gringo, you’re no stranger to wanting to make your own drinks. You can’t make a real, 100% authentic tequila, but a gringo schoolboy will also make a successful imitation of tequila. To do this, arm yourself with vodka, fresh aloe leaves and patience. Then follow this link, where the venerable Don Anointed described in detail the recipes for making imitation tequila and other “cactus” vodkas. Oh yeah, only a very, very bad gringo calls tequila cactus vodka.
So, congratulations, you just learned how to drink tequila in all sorts of different ways. Bring this knowledge to the masses, drink only 100% puro de agave Tequila and be a good gringo!
Goodbye, my friends!