What to drink with your Mexican feast? Wine struggles to cope with those fiery chilli and tomato combinations, and Mexican wine - never much in evidence here at the best of times - has all but disappeared from the Irish market. Beer is a better bet, although the fashion for knocking back bottles of Corona or Sol with a wedge of lemon stuffed in the neck is rather passe. Just concentrate on serving them well-chilled, without the addition of tequila and lime that converts a simple beer into a Desperado.
Tequila - that's more like it. "Tequila is the next vodka," says the proprietor of one major off-licence, reporting healthy sales of leading brands such as Jose Cuervo (£16.49) and Olmeca (£14.99). "It's no longer just seen as something to get drunk on. There are a lot of people now who actually like the taste of tequila." I can't say I have quite attained that degree of positive affirmation myself but, with our Mexican menu in mind, I've sampled enough to understand how this strange spirit made from desert lilies (not cactus roots, as is commonly believed) could be a taste fairly easily acquired. And of course it goes as happily with Mexican food as hot sun with a sombrero. Margaritas are the perfect prelude to a Mexican meal - potent enough to unleash the party spirit and refreshing enough to perk up the tastebuds and prime the appetite. It's essential, however, to use fresh lime juice, rather than any sickly Margarita mixes. And don't despair if you have no Triple Sec or Cointreau to hand. John Cooke of Cooke's Cafe, who has visited Mexico many times, swears that Grand Marnier (which is more likely to be lurking at the back of your drinks cupboard) does the same job better. Here's the classic recipe - the very thing to baptise the cocktail shaker and glasses you got for Christmas.
Margarita
2oz Tequila
1 oz Triple Sec/Cointreau
2oz freshly squeezed lime juice
Shake all the ingredients together over ice and strain into a salt-rimmed martini glass.
If you want to be more original but still resolutely Mexican, another idea is to serve shot glasses of chilled Tequila to be sipped alongside chilled Sangrita. I bring you this suggestion thanks to a chance meeting in London recently with the Scottish drinks writer Dave Broom, author of the absorbing new book Spirits and Cocktails (Carlton, £25 in UK). "Try it - it's really good,' he said, so I did. And it was.
Sangrita
2lb tomatoes
juice of 3 oranges
2 limes
some onion fresh chillis (deseeded).
Blend, Strain strain and serve in chilled shot glasses. At this time of year, I reckon you can be forgiven for using good-quality juice instead of watery tomatoes. Why not throw the Tequila in at the same time, you may ask, to make a kind of Mexican Bloody Mary? Don't be tempted. While the contrasting flavours of the two drinks taste great in succession, together they turn into something horribly sour and disgusting. Keep 'em separate. Ample excuse to christen your stocking-filler shot glasses, too.