Cheladas are the best non-margarita Cinco de Mayo drink. Without a doubt. They’re super easy, cheap and fun.

What is a chelada? Well, there’s not one answer. At its simplest, a chelada is beer mixed with lime juice, served over ice with a salted rim. But, I’ve asked a few Mexican friends and it seems that the contents of a chelada are very regional. In some places, a chelada also has tomato juice, Worstershire or hot sauce. In other places, the term michelada is reserved for the hot sauce version and chelada refers to the lime-only version. Regardless, in Mexico, cheladas and micheladas are very common. As far as I know, though, they haven’t really caught on in the States (minus the Budwieser michelada-type clamato drink). And they should!

While a light Mexican beer would be the norm for this drink, Alex and I think Trader Joe’s Name Tag beer (formerly Red Oval — what’s the story with the bad name change?) works really well. And Name Tag is only $2.99 a six pack. So, if you’re making cheladas with Name Tag, limes and salt, each drink comes out to about a $1/ea. Can’t beat that. Oh, and they taste fantastic. I bet you’ll be making them all summer long…

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Chelada

• 1 beer
• 1 lime + 1 extra wedge
• fine sea salt on a small plate
• ice

Run the wedge of lime around the rim of a glass. Dip the glass in your salt.

Fill your glass over half full with ice. Add in the juice from both the limes. Add in beer. Stir. Garnish with lime wedge.