Best Picosita Recipe – Spicy Guatemalan Beer Cocktail

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Spice up your summer with this refreshing Picosita recipe, a classic Guatemalan cocktail made with beer, Clamato juice, fresh lime juice, chopped red onion and cilantro, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and spices.

Serve it garnished with fresh shrimp and/or cucumber for the ultimate beer cocktail or hangover cure.

Though there are many variations, this picosita recipe is our favourite. It’s the one we make at our ranch in Zacapa, Guatemala.

Why You’ll Love This Picosita Recipe

• Loads of Flavour. It combines the zest of a Mexican Michelada or Bloody Caesar with the fresh flavours of Guatemalan ceviche.
• Lower in alcohol. Lower in alcohol than popular chilled cocktails like Zacapa rum and coke or Quetzateca.
• Thirst Quenching. While picositas are well known as a hangover cure, they’re also a great drink for summer. The combination of cold cerveza and salty juice makes them refreshing on a hot afternoon.
• Versatile: Much like other chilled traditional Guatemalan drinks a picosita is the perfect companion to snacks such as chicharrones, guacamole and tostadas. They’re also good with Guatemalan street food such as shucos and mixtas.
• Popular: Said to have been invented by Hugo’s Ceviches in Antigua in the 1990s, these cocktails have grown in popularity from Guatemala City to Panajachel.
• Novelty: The best bars serve picositas the original way – inside a Gallo beer can wrapped within a brown paper bag. Not only does this cut down on the mess, but it allows customers to sip on the go. When making a picosita at home, we use a Gallo beer can but skip the paper bag.
• Easy to Make: From start to finish, you can make this cocktail in under 5 minutes. It’s made using simple, easy to find ingredients with no complicated syrups or infusions.

Ingredients

Here’s a look at the main ingredients you’ll need to make a Guatemalan picosita (sometimes also called a picocita or picona).

Scroll down to the recipe card for the full list and quantities.

• Beer: A picosita is traditonally made with canned Gallo beer, brewed by Cervecería Centro Americana, SA based in Guatemala City. Gallo is sold in Mexico and the USA as Famosa.
• Clamato Juice: This unique juice combines the tangy, sweet, and slightly salty taste of tomato juice with the briny, savoury essence of clam broth.
• Worcestershire Sauce: Known as salsa inglesa, this British condiment tastes of tangy vinegar, sweet molasses, salty anchovies and a hint of spice, which adds a rich umami taste.
• Red Onion and Cilantro: Red onion adds a sharp, slightly sweet and pungent flavour, while fresh cilantro adds a bright, citrusy, and slightly peppery freshness. Chop by hand for the best texture.
• Fresh Lime: Freshly-squeezed lime juice adds a bright, citrus aroma and refreshing slightly acidic flavour.
• Shrimp: Fresh shrimp has a sweet, delicate, and slightly briny flavour with a tender yet firm texture. It makes a dramatic garnish.
• Cucumber: Used as a garnish, cucumber adds a cool, crisp crunch with slightly grassy notes that complements the heat of the spices.
• Maggi: Maggi sauce has a rich, savoury flavour combining salty, slightly sweet and tangy notes. If you’re sensitive to MSG (as I am), use soy sauce.
• Chamoy Salsa: Sweet, salty, spicy and sour, chamoy sauce is a condiment made from pickled fruit combined with chili powder, salt, and lime juice.
• Tajín: This popular Mexican seasoning is a blend of chili peppers, lime, and salt.

Variations

There are many versions of this cocktail depending on who is making it. Here’s a look at some of the most popular!

• Adding Jalapeños. It’s very popular to add finely diced hot peppers such as jalapeño or serrano into the onion and cilantro mixture.
• Skip the Maggi Seasoning. The simplest versions of picosita don’t include Maggi seasoning.
• Get Creative with Garnishes. Add a wedge of lime, a whole skewer of shrimp or other seafood.
• Beer: As a substitute for Gallo, I recommend using any crisp golden lager beer with lively carbonation for this recipe. Modelo or Corona are good options.

How to Make It: Step by Step Instructions

Here’s a step-by-step look at how to make a picosita cocktail. Scroll down to the recipe card for the exact quantities and method.

1. Prepare the Shrimp: Peel and devein the shrimp. Poach in water in a saucepan or microwave until cooked (around 3-4 minutes in microwave).

Mix with the juice of one lime and allow it to marinate.

2. Prepare the Vegetables. Wash, dry and chop the cilantro and red onion finely. Mix with juice of 2 limes and black pepper.

3. Make the Sauce. Add Clamato juice, Maggi seasoning (or soy sauce), Worcestershire sauce, lime juice and black pepper to a small bowl or cup.

Stir the salsa mixture.

4. Prepare Beer Cans. Pour out 2 ounces of the chilled beer from the beer can and reserve. Or ask your guests to drink it or drink it yourself! 

Spoon the salsa mixture into each beer can to replace the beer you’ve removed. 

5. Assemble. Drizzle chamoy sauce on the top of the can, sprinkle with Tajín and then top with generous spoonfuls of the cilantro/onion/lime mixture. 

6. Garnish: Arrange cucumber slices and shrimp on each can. Sprinkle again with Tajín and a dash of chamoy.

Serve immediately and enjoy responsibly! 

Recipe

FAQs

Thanks to our nephew Carlitos for demonstrating how to make this cocktail!

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