It's been awesome to see lovers of Mexican spirits not only embrace craft beers, mezcal, and more, but to even ape Mexican borracho traditions. Consider sangrita, a Mexican digestif of sorts. For decades, classy drunks would use a shot of sangrita as a chaser for a shot of tequila, just to show how chingón they were. The custom never made it into the United States, unfortunately, where gabachos are fully content to suck on limes and lick their palmful of salt as their tequila sunrise–¡que pendejos!
But sangrita is making a huge move in OC's better bars, and not via the processed punch that is Viuda de Sanchez, the Cuervo of sangrita brands. Places like Anepalco's and Lola Gaspar are making in-house versions, stunning beverages that nearly serve as proper meals. Consider Lola's take.
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They take heirloom tomatoes and Thai peppers, put them in a blender, and serve it as such. It's like the best V8 of your life–shockingly vegetal, quickly filling, absolutely magnificent, with hints of salt and spice lurking in there. The Lola guys currently only serve it as a chaser to their half-mezcal, half-tequila cocktail whose name I can't recall because I'm always drunk walking in and coming out, but I can see them experiment with the sangrita for future cocktails. Hell, I'd buy it as an appetizer and pour it on my tacos–it's that chingón.
Email: ga*******@oc******.com. Twitter: @gustavoarellano.
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