You Need to Try a Green Michelada

The best cocktail on a brunch menu is kind of an underdog. It’s a michelada, and while the Mexican cerveza preparada may not appear on the drinks list at every restaurant, when it does, order it. Part bloody mary, part crisp beer, with a flash of lime juice and pure heat from a chile salt rim, a michelada is the only cocktail that energizes me enough to continue day-drinking. I’m always here for a michelada. Do you remember hearing someone at the table next to you last weekend telling all their friends to order one? There’s an 87 percent chance that was me. But there are times when I’m looking to shake things up, and that’s when I make a green michelada.

Green micheladas swap spicy tomato juice for a more verdant tomatillo and cucumber juice. There’s still lime and Worcestershire, because both of those flavors are essential to a good michelada, but throw a shot of pineapple juice and a bit of green hot sauce in the mix as well to really wake up your taste buds. There’s no way you could possibly still enjoy a sticky-sweet glass of sangria after hearing about this.

Roughly chop 2 tomatillos and enough cucumber to measure 2 cups. Toss the vegetables into a blender along with the juice from 2 limes, 1 ounce pineapple juice, 2 tablespoons of your preferred green hot sauce, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce and 1 teaspoon salt. Blend until very smooth, then pass through a fine mesh sieve into a liquid measuring cup.

Mix 3 tablespoons chile powder and 1 teaspoon salt in (or pour a few tablespoons Tajín into) a shallow bowl. Run a piece of lime around the rim of a tall pint glass and dip it into the chile salt.

Pour about ¼ cup of the tomatillo mixture into the glass, then fill the glass almost all the way with ice. Pour in as much pilsner-style lager as will fit into the glass, give the drink a little mix with a spoon or straw. Serve green micheladas with a wedge of lime and the rest of the beer, adding more beer as you sip the drink.