Xtabentun: Mayan Moonshine (& Sprite and tequila)

Xtabentun: Mayan Moonshine

On the Reader’s Blog, Mike Sula recounted a trip last week to Xni-Pec, where ten or so of us shared pounds of excellent chow…and a scant few ounces of Xtabentun (http://tinyurl.com/2qx5cr), a Yucatecan liqueur made of honey. (We would have had more, of course, but they were just about out of the stuff...must be popular).

This afternoon, having returned from yet another trip to Xni-Pec, I rummaged in my liquor cabinet and sure enough…there was the bottle of Xtabentun I’d purchased in the late 70s in the little town of Valladolid.



To give you a hint of how often I crack into this stuff, I bought it almost 30 years ago and I still have a cup or more left. It’s very sweet, with slight licorice notes, and is heavy on the tongue – I like it with a single ice cube.

Aside from this liqueur, Valladolid has going for it…well, probably not a whole lot, but Frank Sinatra did sing there in the 50s (there’s a sign outside town commemorating the event), there’s a two-towered church (see label, above) clearly built on the frame of a Mayan pyramid (destroyed and repurposed for the church)…and I remember eating a platter of salted yellow chilies so hot I saw stars.

As far as I know, Xtabentun is produced only in Valladolid, and I have never seen it anywhere but there…and Xni-Pec.

I was served Xtabentun in Merida, as well as Vallodolid. (And Vallodolid's known for several dandy dishes, by the way, including the widely admired longaniza de Vallodolid.)

I also purchased a bottle of Xtabentun in Merida, to help the warm glow of the trip linger after I returned. My bottle emptied out rather more quickly than yours. It was fairly strong, but it made a nice dessert.

Nice to know there is someplace to get it here. I'll have to make a trip to Xni-pec (though that wouldn't be my only reason for going.)

Thanks for mentioning the Xtabentun.

Sprite & Tequila

I'm going to piggy-back on this thread with a report on an odd drink we were served at Xel-Ha a few weeks ago: Sprite and tequila, served in a shot glass, slammed (hand over rim) on the table to create a small, foamy snort. Not very good, but odd, and, I suspect, a product of Mexico's "resort culture."

David Hammond wrote:Sprite & Tequila

I'm going to piggy-back on this thread with a report on an odd drink we were served at Xel-Ha a few weeks ago: Sprite and tequila, served in a shot glass, slammed (hand over rim) on the table to create a small, foamy snort. Not very good, but odd, and, I suspect, a product of Mexico's "resort culture."

And, at least in my experience, Southwestern U.S. college culture

ksbeck wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Sprite & Tequila

I'm going to piggy-back on this thread with a report on an odd drink we were served at Xel-Ha a few weeks ago: Sprite and tequila, served in a shot glass, slammed (hand over rim) on the table to create a small, foamy snort. Not very good, but odd, and, I suspect, a product of Mexico's "resort culture."

And, at least in my experience, Southwestern U.S. college culture

Really? You had it in a shot glass slammed on the table? You college kids, a continual wellspring of inventiveness.

David Hammond wrote:Really? You had it in a shot glass slammed on the table? You college kids, a continual wellspring of inventiveness.

Yep, we drank them exactly as you describe above: Sprite and tequila in a shot glass, hand over rim, and then slam the glass on a table or bar. They were called tequila poppers and the very thought of them still makes me shudder today.

We would call them poppers or slammers, and they evoke images of chalk-faced young men with their foreheads leaning on garage doors projecting the old technicolor yawn. Or perhaps offerings of throatmeal to the Tidybowl Man. Twas a bachelor party libation for my crowd back in the day-along with kamikazes and shotgunning 16 oz. cans of beer.

i enjoyed Xtabentun while in mexico last year.. (had it after dinner at "john's place" which I believe I wrote about in another thread).... i saw it at the duty free but was disappointed that i couldn't purchase it because they have so many restrictions on it now...(you have to purchase it 1+ hr before departure... ugh). anyway, as disappointed as i was, i was at binny's and discovered they actually stocked it, so apparently it's fairly common. binny's (the one south of belmont/clark) had it for about the same price as duty free and it was the same brand...

very delicious stuff... they served it to me over a glass of ice.

...this is the brand i bought @ benny's, and the brand they seemed to have everywhere in mexico:

Not really in the mood for a margarite or a beer, I ordered a Squirt and tequila at Xni-Pec last night, and it was not bad at all. A little sweet for a dinner beverage, but with sour tang (which seems to be favored in Yucatecan cuisine), it was cool and refreshing and meshed well with habanero salsa.

David Hammond wrote:Not really in the mood for a margarite or a beer, I ordered a Squirt and tequila at Xni-Pec last night, and it was not bad at all. A little sweet for a dinner beverage, but with sour tang (which seems to be favored in Yucatecan cuisine), it was cool and refreshing and meshed well with habanero salsa.

David, at Willy's, my favorutie Mexican restaurant in the town where my mother resides in Northwestern Illinois, Willy makes this same drink and calls it la carreta, or "the cart," or "wagon." I am not sure if the usage of that term extends any further than his restaurant, though. I mean, Willy likes to get creative with the names of his house cocktails. For example, he serves a "Willy's-style beer," which is essentially a michelada.

BTW, it was nice to see you last night. My first visit to Xni-Pec was most enjoyable!

E.M.

Erik M. wrote:BTW, it was nice to see you last night. My first visit to Xni-Pec was most enjoyable!

Good to catch up with you, too, and I'm glad you liked Xni-Pec -- this place has received so much LTH love that I'm afraid I'm losing perspective; a fresh (and confirming) opinion is reassuring.

Hammond

David, at Willy's, my favorutie Mexican restaurant in the town where my mother resides in Northwestern Illinois, Willy makes this same drink and calls it la carreta, or "the cart," or "wagon." I am not sure if the usage of that term extends any further than his restaurant, though.

A friend introduced this to me on a work trip to the Yucatan, and she called it a "Paloma." It's not a shot but served in a tall glass. She got hooked while she was working in Guadalajara, home of Jose Cuervo.

I've since ordered many "Palomas" while traveling. They're like a margarita-lite. I've never ordered it when home, but am inspired to do so now!

Was at Sam's Liquors in Highland Park yesterday, and a Xtabentun sighting reminded me of this discussion. Should anyone wish to try this heady beverage (actually quite a pleasant digestive aid), you can get it at Sam's, as well as in the Yucatan.