Two Puebla-Themed Tecate Cocktail Recipes for Your Cinco de Mayo Rager at Home. And One for Salsa Borracha

[dropcap size=big]C[/dropcap]inco de Mayo is here, whatever that means this year. 

But it’s here, and now you have a serious decision to make.

Are you going to kick this party off with a beer or a shot?

We’d rather not watch you torture yourself.

Instead, Taco teamed up with the cerveza-masters at Tecate to bring you two simple beer cocktails you can make with just a shot and a can of their time-honored recipe that originated in the town of Tecate, Baja California.

And to keep everyone’s energy cranking until the crack-of-dawn corridos start, we’ve also supplied a recipe for a salsa borracha infused with the Baja-brewed lager you can eat with dinner.

Enjoy! And most importantly, enjoy responsibly.

The Battle Royale

As just about every story about Cinco de Mayo will remind you, the holiday is a commemoration of the victory of the Battle of Puebla by Mexican military forces over France in 1862. That beef is in the past now, which means you can sip on a delicious French-meets-Mexican beer-cocktail and not have to worry about fanning the flames of geopolitical tension. Sweet.

• 1 cold 12oz. bottle of Tecate
• 1.5 oz. of Chambord Liqueur 

Directions: Pour beer into a glass. Top with a shot and a half of Chambord, a fruity Loire-made liqueur made of blackberries and raspberries, honey, Madagascar vanilla, Moroccan citrus peel, and cognac.

The Baja Boilermaker

Ancho Reyes is a Mexican liqueur infused with chile ancho that is based on a celebrated early 20th-century recipe originating in Puebla. It’s a bit of a secret weapon for any mixologist making spicy cocktails these days. And though we usually like our Tecate with nothing more than a fresh lime, some beautiful things happen when you pair these two unlikely forces together. Your lime is still welcome, of course.

• One 12oz. bottle of Tecate
• 1.5 oz. Ancho Reyes Original

Directions: Serve your Tecate cold in a lime-garnished glass beside a chilled 1.5 oz. shot of Ancho Reyes. Drink interchangeably, until it’s time to refill one of the two vessels and repeat.

Salsa Borracha

Why should your glass have all the fun on Cinco de Mayo? It’s only right that your tacos get a taste of Tecate, too. This simple recipe for a rich, though mildly spicy, salsa borracha uses pasilla chiles, Tecate, and a few other easily obtained ingredients that taste great together between a tortilla with meats or marinated mushrooms or whatever you’re into. The beer is the “borracha” part. If anyone asks.

• 4 chiles pasilla, with seeds and veins removed 
• 1 cup Tecate Original
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/3 cup white onion, diced
• 1/4 cup crumbled Cotija cheese
• Salt to taste

Directions: 

Toast the cleaned chiles for a few seconds over high heat to bring out their flavor, before submerging in hot water until they turn soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Toast garlic clove for a few seconds on both sides over medium heat.

Blend Tecate, garlic clove, and chiles until smooth in a food processor.

Add blended salsa to a serving dish and add salt to your preference.

Sprinkle with diced onion and cotija cheese, then serve.