Alcademics’ Camper English is rarely behind on a trend, but he seems to have picked up the ball a little late on the pairing of Bud Light and Clamato. We first noticed this pre-mixed michelada cocktail over last summer, though it didn’t show up everywhere. Apparently Anheuser Busch was test-marketing it and recently decided the mix was a go.
Now, before you get all grossed out by what is, admittedly, a canned drink at the same level of weirdness as Club cocktails, think about the inception of this monster. From Alcademics:
There are two schools of Micheladas. One is with beer, lime juice, and Tabasco/Worcestershire sauce with a salted rim. That’s the one I’ve most often read about and had in several bars in California and even in Mexico.
The other type is this one, a beer Bloody Mary. I’ve only read about it but obviously it’s popular enough that they produced a pre-mixed product and already test-marketed it before launch.
So there you go- this is a canned “beer Bloody Mary,” made with Bud Light. Still grossed out? Yeah, us too. But not by the concept. We have had an actual Clamato Michelada before, and it was superb. In fact, that’s what we drank on New Year’s morning. They sell them at Tacos Zamorano in Oakland. You just order a beer from the cooler and ask it to be served “michelada.” It comes in the bottle with a salt-and-chili-rimmed glass of Clamato for you to pour it into.
What you want to do is order the 32 oz. Tecate, so that as you refill the glass, the Clamato gets thinner and thinner in the mix. That way, your drink lightens as you go and you don’t have to get a full dose of clam and tomato with every sip.
The sick thing about the awkwardly named “Bud Light & Clamato Chelada” isn’t the savory drink that inspired it, but just the fact that it comes pre-mixed with nasty old Bud Light. If only Pacifico had gotten there first.
Bud and Clam [Alcademics]
Budweiser & Clamato Chelada and Bud Light & Clamato Chelada Arrive Nationwide [AB press release]
