Welcome to the very first webpage on kalimotxo,
on the Web since the early 1995!!
The Making of
Basically, this famous basque drink is composed of red wine & coke, fifty/fifty (this is the most important thing).
It is supposed to be served with ice if available and you can also add a slice of lemon.
Don't forget to stir it well before drinking.
See more detailed instructions to make the perfect kalimotxo (IMHO) (in Spanish).
"Calimocho" (weird) Wikipedia webpage (in Spanish) where this website is
referenced as the first one about kalimotxo.
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Variations
I'd like to notice that some of the information appearing below can be
wrong due to people use different names in different places for the same drink;
even more, the same name for different drinks.
- "Pitilingorri" (Bizkaia) or "joxemari" (Gipuzkoa):
use any lemon soda instead of coke.
- "Txurrimuski": use any orange soda instead of coke.
- "Kaligorri": use rose (pink wine) instead of red wine.
- "Kalitxuri": use white wine instead of red wine.
- In Larres (Huesca, Spain) and other towns around there, it is common to do kalimotxo with aged wine. And surprisinly, elder people are who drink it (!!!).
This information was provided by Quinin, the psyco-bartender in "La Bodeguilla" (Zaragoza, Spain).
- "Litrona" or "litro" of kalimotxo. This is easy: just get a one and half liter bottle of coke
and mix it with one liter of red wine. Important: drink it directly from the bottle, and don't waste your time adding lemon
and ice, basic ingredients and already in. It is portable, refillable, recycleable and shareable. Litrona is the key of the
phenomenom called "botellón" where people buy drinks at supermarkets and drink in the streets.
- "Katxi" or "mini", very popular!!! a litre of kalimotxo served in a big plastic glass.
But don't forget these are only some variations of
the original and marvellous kalimotxo.
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Also Known As...
Yeah, people drink kalimotxo everywhere. But they use different names. Help me to build this section and tell me how you call that drink made of Red Wine and Coke. Other names for variations and even new variations are also welcome.
- Kalimotxo, in the Basque Country. We already knew that by now, right ?
- Calimocho, in the rest of Spain. Weird !!!
- Red Wine & Coke, in the USA. Well, at least it was the only way to ask for kalimotxo
- Vadász; (which means 'hunter') and VBK (which
stands for 'vörösboros kóla', i.e., red wine with coke) in Hungary. Source: Viktor Tron, who also
sent a long list of other regional names (in Hungarian).
- Kalimotxito, in Vitoria-Gasteiz. It is served in a half-size glass.
- Half kalimotxo, in several late-night bars. In places where "kalimotxo"
means "a glass with ice and red wine, and a whole bottle of coke", half kalimotxo means "I only want half bottle of coke". It is cheaper and you don´t drink more coke than wine.
- Bambus, in Croatia (source V. Prenner) and in Slovenia (source
Annabel Harrison,
a sworn coke-hater who also told me that they sometimes confused it with
txurrimuski). JCampos found out that the name Bambus is
well-known .
- Korea, in the southwest of Germany, according to the information provided by Stephan, from Stuttgart.
- Tinticola, in Aragón (in the past), according to Isabel, the cool rasta-bartender of "Barrio Sur"
- Rioja libre, in La Rioja in the 80's, according to José Gabriel.
- Sangriola, in Belgium, according to Marc Luyten, member of the country &
rockabilly band "The
Sangriola's", visit their website, amazing clips and music!! and don't miss the funny story about the name of the band and
presentation of its first CD 'Radio Kalimotxo'!!
- Jote, in Chile, as explained by Lissette.
- Katemba, in South Africa, according to Vincent Maher.
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How to pronounce it (and related songs)
I think the only thing you need to know is that "tx" is pronounced like "ch"
in "much". Anyway, here you have an
audio sample. If you did not get the picture, just listen some kalimotxo songs (in Spanish):
- La Otxoa - Pasame el kalimotxo. A Bilbao semi-gay folk song, very good.
Nesss and I think it should be the next summer song.
See a video in YouTube.
See La Otxoa and me in Aste Nagusia 2018, in Bilbao.
- JB Juerguistas y Borrachos - Kalimotxo (konsixtente). Alternative music for an alternative drink.
- Josu Distorsion y los del Puente Romano - Kalimotxo
- Los Borghia - Rock y Kalimotxo. In other words, rock and kalimotxo :-)
- Gigatron - Viva
el kalimotxo. A kalimotxo version of
"We will rock you".
Wanna see their
video (45.6 MB)? (parental discrection is advised)
- Manolo Kabezabolo - Si Sid Vicius hubiera conocido el kalimotxo
(if Sid Vicius would have known kalimotxo). A kalimotxo punk song.
A contribution of Nesss.
- Zapozain - Com'on C.K. edan kalimotxo, a kalimotxo version
of a well-known folk-rock song.
- BB Bino - Kalimotxo, a cool punky song absolutely dedicated to kalimotxo.
- Porretas - Kalimotxo, a priceless pro-kalimotxo rock song.
- Desfase - Kalimocho, another punk kalimotxo song.
- Kalandrakas - Kalimotxo, cool tune about kalimotxo drinking.
- Pablo Carbonel - El Kalimotxo de Mama, amazing videoclip to promote San Fermines 2007.
- Eilen Jewell - Kalimotxo, a kalimotxo country style song.
Being born in Boise, Idaho, home of the biggest basque community in the US, we can understand that Eilen loves kalimotxo, the mascot of her band, as she said in an interview in Spanish.
In a live concert in Madrid she explains as introduction: "This drink is for teenagers, right? but we like it... a lot. We are young in our mind, in our heart, young forever, then we must play 'Kalimotxo' ".
-
The Pubcrawlers - Kalimotxo, New England celtic punk plus kalimotxo, the perfect mix.
Here you can find the
interview of Radio Popular
de Bilbao radio station, in October 3, 2002 (13 minutes, 6.2 MB)
Kalimotxo-based Food
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Kalimotxo-related Places
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Eduardo Mena. Well, this is me.
I visited the Old Harbor in Algorta, the neighbourhood where the name "kalimotxo" was born on August 12, 1972, at 17:00 (See ref., page 8).
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Alfredo Goñi. He
is from Pamplona and he is the wildest fan of Sanfermines I've ever seen. Do I need to say anything else ?
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Nesss, probably
my most reliable kalimotxo partner.
| Angel "El Txantreano". Another guy from Pamplona. As he is quite shy and he doesn't want to
send a picture to me, I can only show him fighting
against Pepe and Itziar (this is not his best photo).
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Goio Lekuona, a friend from Ordizia (in the deep Basque Country). Damned, although he drinks a lot he never gets drunk (well perhaps once or twice).
| New members of the kalimotxo guild during my stay in the USA in 1995:
- Ben, Ella & Anne
- Souvik
- Several guys in a Spring Break party. Special mention for that girl
with glasses who tried it many times (perhaps too many times)
- Angie, John, Monica & Dave
- Devashish
- Joaquin & Robin
| Chao-Chung Chang (Txao-Txung Txang in Basque), who was initiated by
Alfredo in Sanfermines'95 and continued drinking kalimotxo in his following
visits to the Basque Country. He also offered kalimotxo as a special
drink in his '98 birthday party. You can see him and
Alfredo in front of the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum right before
kalimotxing once again.
| Enrico Maria Orsi, who contributed with 10 litres of kalimotxo to a party in Turin (June 28, 1996)
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The Mexico City Kalimotxo Drinkers, nice people that really love drinking kalimotxo and making it famous everywhere.
| Kjetil Aamann, from Oslo (Norway), is a real fan of kalimotxo and other basque drinks. He says that, unfortunately, he and another lady are the only members in the norwegian kalimotxo movement. Hey you, vikings ! don't leave those nice people alone and try the drink !!!. I hope to meet him here in San Sebastian.
| Paul Stewart and his friend Patrick "Kalimotxo Kid". They enjoyed it in San Fermines, Pamplona.
| Christine Poydessus and friends. They have their own kalimotxo drinkers society in San Francisco, California.
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Anders Rascal, from Sweden:
"I've made kalimotxo the drink of drinks among my fellow swedes.
We always drink it before we go out". Keep drinking, boy.
| One of the best kalimotxo websites in the Web, FBC, the Federation of Kalimotxo Drinkers (in Spanish).
| Paul Holder, from Crested Butte, CO, who learned of kalimotxo in Villena, Alicante (Spain).
| Caleb, from Washington DC, who has a very funny page about kalimotxo.
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José Gabriel, from La Rioja, who contributes with a cultural note about
kalimotxo (in Spanish): "A los romanos les parecía vulgar el consumo de vino sin
mezclar (merus), y preferían el mezclado con agua (mixtus). En los tiempos de
Julio César no se habían inventado las burbujas, pero se admitía aromatizar la
mezcla de agua y vino con otras sustancias. Así que este insigne personaje
habría considerado vulgar al que se llena la copa con Marqués de Cáceres a palo
seco, y civilizado al que la llena con un tinto de verano o un calimocho."
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Eirik Askheim, from Norway, he likes very much the kalimotxo according to his friend Manuel Caballero
| Dylan Smith, from Isle of Man
.
Just one month after he visited Zaragoza (Spain), where he drank kalimotxo
for his first time, he sent me a picture of, as far as we know, the very first kalimotxo ever mixed at Isle of Man,
and we think that this won't be the last one!! Let's spread
kalimotxo through those 572 km2; even 4-horn Loaghtan
sheeps are gonna love it!! :-))
| Marlyse, who shows that girls from Cameroon also love our favourite drink.
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Laura, rediscovering kalimotxo.
| Two new kalimotxo drinkers from the Isle of Man.
| May the kalimotxo be with you
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