One of my favorite work pastimes is perusing the web for fun new food blogs. While on my tour, I returned to MattBites, which is as notable for good looks as compelling content. I skimmed through a few months of posts and stumbled upon something new: the Michelada.

Okay, so it isn’t really new. People in Mexico and the Southwest have been making the cerveza preparada for years. It’s a simple concoction, made of beer, spices and lime, but the whole is definitely more than the sum of its parts. Being a truly diligent blogger, I naturally tested the drink with three different beers—just to be sure that the recipe was thoroughly vetted, of course.

1 12-oz Mexican beer (Corona, Modelo, Pacifico)
juice of one lime
dash of Worcestershire or soy sauce
two dashes hot sauce (or to taste)
fresh cracked pepper

Rim a highball glass with salt. Add lime juice, Worcestershire, hot sauce and pepper, and top with beer. Stir to mix well.

I’ll be honest. I have a weakness for brunch, and those drinks associated with brunch. I’ll gladly drink Bloody Marys or mimosas all day, so I suppose it makes sense that the beer and hot sauce combo caught my eye right away. When I found this recipe I did a little sleuthing and found that there are tons of recipes for the Michelada, some of which are basically Bloody Marys that sub beer for vodka. That seemed a bit weak to me—especially because the tomato juice would overwhelm the beer and you’d lose all that lovely effervescence.

Of the three beers I tried—Asahi (yeah, I know, but it’s all I had on hand), Corona and Modelo—Corona was the best. Modelo was good, but the beer has a little less body than Corona, so the hot sauce congregated on the bottom.

Though I won’t say this is even close to one of my favorite drinks, it’s definitely an enjoyable way to drink a beer. Next Sunday, should you find yourself in a brunch way and in need of a beverage, grab some beer, a lime and some Tabasco and have at it.