The Batanga is a 1950s Mexican take on the Cuba Libre, replacing the rum with tequila and employing an unorthodox method of stirring. A variation on the Changuirongo—a 1940s-vintage Mexican name for tequila mixed with ginger ale, cola, or any other sweet soda—it is the creation of Don Javier Delgado Corona, proprietor of La Capilla, a bar in the town of Tequila from the 1950s until his death in 2020. Don Javier, as he was universally known, mixed his version with a large iron utility knife, used to cut limes, chiles, avocados, and anything else in the bar that needed cutting. Habitués of La Capilla claim that this gives the drink a certain irreproducible je ne sais quoi.
The Batanga was discovered by journalists in the early 1990s and is often encountered in Australia and Europe but only rarely in the United States. Aficionados insist, however, that the only place one may secure a perfectly executed version is, of course, at La Capilla.
Recipe: Combine 60 ml 100 percent–agave, blanco tequila and 15 ml lime juice in a tall, salt-rimmed, ice-filled glass. Add 90 ml chilled Coca-Cola (Mexican preferred) and stir with a large, (non-stainless) steel utility knife.
See also Cuba Libre.
Porter, Gabi. “Twist of the Knife: Tequila’s Authentic Batanga.” Saveur, May 9, 2013. http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-and-Drink/The-Authentic-Batanga (accessed February 1, 2021).
By: David Wondrich