Batanga

The Batanga was created by Don Javier Delgado Corona, owner and bartender of La Capilla — the oldest bar in the town of Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico. Don Javier invented the drink sometime in the 1950s or early 1960s; even he could not recall the exact date. "I invented it in the fifties, or maybe the sixties, I'm not sure," he once said. He passed away in 2020 at the age of 95. La Capilla appeared on The World's Best Bars list and remains a pilgrimage site for tequila lovers worldwide. If you ever find yourself in the town of Tequila, it is a mandatory stop. The original recipe calls for El Tequileño Blanco — a tequila produced just a few hundred meters from La Capilla, founded in 1959, making it the authentic and inseparable spirit of this cocktail. The Batanga is essentially a Charro Negro — Mexico's tequila version of the Cuba Libre — with a salted rim. What makes it different is the man who made it and the rituals he created around it. Don Javier always stirred his Batanga with the same long knife he used to cut limes and prepare bar snacks, impregnated with flavors of serrano chile, onion, and cueritos. That ritual became the defining signature of the drink. The salt rim uses coarse sea salt — sal de mar gruesa — not fine salt. The coarser texture dissolves more slowly against the lip, delivering bursts of salinity that contrast the sweetness of the cola with every sip. Use Mexican Coca-Cola — made with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup, it is less sweet and more balanced than the standard formula. Don Javier himself once said about La Capilla: "Los hombres entran de pie y salen de rodillas" — men enter standing and leave on their knees.