Travel Santa Ana encourages diners to explore the city with micheladas as a guide
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It’s likely you have heard of a pub crawl or a margarita tour. The bar-hopping sessions give attendees the chance to try multiple beverages at establishments in a concentrated area, usually within walking distance of each other.
Maria Gonzalez, content and community engagement manager for Travel Santa Ana, had an idea for a different tasting tour that would better showcase the city’s restaurants and bars.
“Everybody does a margarita trail, but we wanted to stand out and a really iconic drink in our city is the michelada,” said Gonzalez.
To get the party started, Travel Santa Ana launched a michelada guide to direct drinkers to local establishments serving the popular Mexican beer cocktail.
“We created the michelada guide as a way for everyone to come and explore some fun flavors,” said Gonzalez. “So many places in our city have a unique take on this awesome drink.”
The cocktail is traditionally made with beer, lime, salt and some form of chile sauce, Clamato or even tomato juice. Some argue that adding chili or tomato is what makes it a michelada, while just lime and salt qualify the drink as a “chelada.”
“People say its kind of like a bloody mary, but it is really different,” said Gonzalez. “It’s more refreshing.”
According to Travel Santa Ana, credit for the drink’s invention is often given to Michel Ésper, who had a habit of ordering his beer at the Club Deportivo Potosino in San Luis Potosí, Mexico with lime, salt, ice and a straw. Other club members caught on and started asking for “Michel’s lemonade,” which eventually evolved to “michelada.”
The guide is available on Travel Santa Ana’s website and is also accessible via QR codes posted at participating businesses. Drinkers can use the guide to explore different micheladas in the area and post a picture of their beverage to social media using the hashtag #MicheladaManiaSA to receive a custom Santa Ana michelada enamel pin. The post also automatically enters participants into a monthly giveaway for a $50 gift card to one of the Michelada guide locations.
“National Michelada Day is coming up on July 12 too, so we will be celebrating that,” said Gonzalez.
There are over 20 bars and restaurants included on the guide, each serving different versions of the michelada, including Alta Baja Market, Amor y Tequila, Cafe Cultura, Cerveza Cito, El Indio Botanas y Cerveza, Hammer Burger, Mission Bar, Lola Gaspar, Native Son and more.
A recent michelada tour hosted by Travel Santa Ana kicked off at Alta Baja Market, owned and operated by Delilah Snell. The curated market sells an assortment of products and prepared foods sourced from the Baja region.
Snell said her business celebrates California, the American Southwest and Mexico. “We are known for carrying a lot of heirloom beans, grains, corn and flours ... things that you don’t see represented in most conventional markets.”
Alta Baja also features a menu of multiple michelada flavors, like the spicy La Chiquita made with passion fruit, or the La Nopalita, mixed with cactus fruit juice and lime. Snell also offers a non-alcoholic versions, substituting sparkling water for beer.
The next stop was the nearby McFadden Public Market, where the upstairs arcade and bar Mission Control offers micheladas mixed with Clamato and a guest’s choice of beer on the menu. Using Golden Road’s Mango Cart pale wheat beer as a base makes for a fruit forward cocktail, while a Modelo Mexican beer makes a more classic pairing.
Local Mexican brewery Cerveza Cito was the last stop on the tour, offering micheladas made with the beer brewed on site. The menu includes a 24-ounce house michelada and creative concoctions like a pickle michelada made with dill pickle brine and fruit micheladas in flavors like mango, strawberry, pineapple and cucumber. For those who can’t decide which michelada to commit to, there are variety flights of four different 5-ounce pours.
The michelada guide launches not long after Travel Santa Ana introduced the Culinary Passport. Like the michelada guide, the passport directs diners to local places and enters participants in a contest when they post and tag their dining experience on social media.
Gonzalez said she hopes people use the guides to enhance their experience in Santa Ana.
“Santa Ana has really unique food and culture and that is how we stand apart from all the other Orange County destinations,” said Gonzalez. “Everything was tired and tested.”
For details on the michelada guide and culinary passport, visit travelsantaana.com.
