There was a point in the not too distant past when the Bloody Mary jumped the shark. You know what I’m talking about; The vodka and tomato juice combo, which is a wonderful cocktail all on its own, was garnished with garish nibbles. You could walk into just about any bar in America and order a Bloody Mary and it would come with an all you can eat buffet skewered to the edge of the glass. Grilled shrimp, hamburgers, jalapeno poppers, a Caesar salad…if you could dream it up and put it on a stick, the bartender would put it in your Bloody Mary.
It’s hard to say what the most ridiculous Bloody Mary garnish is—the steak and tater tots from a bar in Atlanta, the bag of popcorn/nachos/burgers and pickled vegetables attached to a Bloody Mary at a pub in Wisconsin…putting food on top of your tomato juice-based cocktail got pretty crazy. I think the over-garnishing trend has subsided, but it seems that maybe beer is getting in on the food garnish treatment.
I’ve been known to stick a wedge of lime on the edge of a crappy lager every now and then, just for an extra kick of citrus, but at San Diego-based Puesto, you can order a beer with garnish of ceviche on top of the can. For realsies. Bartender Lucien Conner has a thing where he hollows out a bell pepper, fills it with ceviche, slices off the bottom of that pepper and then sticks the ceviche/pepper on top of a can of an open Modelo so the citrusy/spicy flavors of the ceviche soak into the beer. And you drink it all through a straw.
It sounds crazy, but apparently Conner got the idea from ceviche houses in Mexico, where the raw fish is served in heaps on top of cold six packs. While I’m typically skeptical of the over-garnishing trend, I happen to love ceviche and ice-cold Modelo, so I’m all about this idea.
If you’re of a similar mindset, you can head straight to Puesto to try it for yourself. But maybe you don’t live in Southern California. Maybe you live in the Midwest or Southeast and you still love ceviche and cold lager. Never fret, we have you covered. Lucien Conner has detailed for us exactly how to make a ceviche-topped beer at home.
Ceviche Beer
1) Coat the top rim of a beer can with Tajin seasoning. Either shaking the Tajin directly onto the can, or put Tajin in a bowl and roll the can in the seasoning.
2) Cut off the top and bottom of a bell pepper and place it atop a cracked-open can of beer with Tajin seasoning.
3) Fill the pepper with ceviche (here’s an easy recipe)
4) Garnish the ceviche cup with lime wedges & cilantro.
5) Push a straw through the ceviche and into the beer.
6) Drink the beer and eat the ceviche at will.
Give it a shot at home and let us know what you think.