Eddie The Wild's
Kalimotxo Home Page

Last update: March 29, 2020

Welcome to the very first webpage on kalimotxo, on the Web since the early 1995!!

Relevant events:

The origin of the name

Nobody knows who combined red wine and coke for the first time. But almost everybody agree that the name "kalimotxo" was invented in by the group of friends called "Antzarrak" during the festivities of Algorta in August 12, 1972, 17:00, by mixing the name of two of their friends , Kalimero and Motxongo (other sources say that their friend Kalimero was quite ugly (motxo, in Basque).

In July 2004, people from invite me to write a chapter for their book "La Verdadera Historia del Kalimotxo" (The True Story of Kalimotxo). If you are interested, order your own copy of the book .

In May 11, 2006, the book was presented in an amazing event at Funky Projects, where journalists and many friends enjoyed kalimotxo, hot peppers, and salted anchovies; very funny. Tele7 TV broadcasts a video interview that evening.

In June 6, 2006 (the very day of the beast, and coinciding with my birthday), Euskal Telebista (ETB) (the basque TV) broadcasts a video about the famous book.

The same day (more birthday gifts!!) Martin Mugica sends me a copy of the book "The invention of the kalimotxo and anecdotes of public festivities" (3MB, in Spanish), with photos of Kepa Urquiza and edited by the Antzarrak group in 2001, a priceless document about the old but good festivities in Algorta.

Other references:

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.

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. But don't forget these are only some variations of the original and marvellous kalimotxo.

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.

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):

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

    Fuelimotxo
    by Restaurante Los Fueros, in Bilbao (Spain)

    An original tapa made with foie and kalimotxo gelatin.

    Kalimotxo ice cream
    by ice cream shop Nossi-Bé, in Bilbao.
    Beef Neck and Kalimotxo Potjie
    by Vincent Maher

    A delicious beef neck stew cooked with kalimotxo and prepared outdoors in a traditional round, cast iron, three-legged pot (the potjie) which is found in the homes and villages of people throughout southern Africa. You can replace beef neck by tail or shin, as long as it has bones in it. Posted by its creator on June 16, 2011.

    Okela de alto voltage con kalimotxo
    (i.e. high voltage meat with kalimotxo), from Bar Okela (Bilbao)

    It became one of the finalists of the "XIII Campeonato de Pintxos Bilbao -Bizkaia" (13th Championship of Typical Basque Appetizers Bilbao -Bizkaia) on June 24, 2010. Okela also won the prize "Txapela Mejor Barra" (prize to the best bar, i.e., the place where you place pintxos).

Kalimotxo-related Places

    El mejor vino para hacer kalimotxo, Bodegas Otañón (La Rioja, Spain)
    They analized which of their wines was the best one to make kalimotxo.
    City O- City, Denver (USA)
    You can find kalimotxo as one of the "libations" of this restaurant in Downtown Denver, amazingly served with a straw across the limon slide on top of glass, nice!!!
    Restaurant "Casa del Bueno", Shibuya (Japan)
    You can find kalimotxo in this Spanish Bar in Japan.
    Restaurante Kalimotxo, in Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico)
    Definitely a nice name!!

    Kalimotxo, in Austin, Texas (USA)
    Basque style bar Open in November 2019, they offer pintxos, cocktails, and porrons.. and of course, kalimotxo, although they drink beer in their promotional video (-1).

Great Kalimotxo drinkers

The order in which the pictures appear is not important. When we speak about kalimotxo the most important thing is not to drink the first one but to drink the last one.
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). 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 ? 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).
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)
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.
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.
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." 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.
Laura, rediscovering kalimotxo. Two new kalimotxo drinkers from the Isle of Man.

May the kalimotxo be with you

Kalimotxo Stories

Do not forget to visit the Sagardo Bira Home Page, our chronicles when drinking cider.

Acknowledgments

I'd like to thank to Nerea "Bastrakine" and Fernando the valuable information they sent to me about some variations of kalimotxo. Thanks to Devashish for his suggestion about how to pronounce "kalimotxo". Special thanks to Enrico Maria for helping me in finding the first home for this web.

About this website

The very first kalimotxo website has been hosted at different homes:

EddieTheWild@bigfoot.com
March. 15, 1995