Batanga

Tequila, lime, and Coca-Cola stirred with a kitchen knife — Don Javier Corona's La Capilla (1951) in the town of Tequila, Corona tending bar for over sixty years.

The Batanga was created by Don Javier Delgado Corona at La Capilla — The Chapel — a small bar he opened in the town of Tequila, in the highland Jalisco valley where the blue Weber agave has been cultivated for distillation since the 16th century. Corona opened La Capilla in 1951 and continued tending bar there for over sixty years until his death in 2020 at approximately 92 years of age, making him one of the most enduring bartenders in the documented history of the trade. His Batanga — tequila, fresh lime juice, and Coca-Cola, stirred vigorously with a large kitchen knife before serving — became famous both for its flavor and for its theatrical preparation: the knife-stirring was Corona's signature gesture, and bartenders visiting La Capilla from around the world documented the ritual as a defining element of the drink's identity. The drink was relatively unknown outside Jalisco until the late 2000s, when cocktail journalists and spirits writers including Camper English began documenting it and introducing it to international bar audiences. The Batanga's combination of tequila with cola echoes Mexico's Piscola tradition (pisco and cola in Chile) and the Cuba Libre, reflecting a broader pattern of New World spirits finding their most casual commercial expression in combination with the American soft drink.