New York's spiciest cocktails

Toloache | Michelada Picantina

This typical Mexican cerveza preparada (“prepared beer”) is so popular down south that many locals drink it as if it were soda (and Toloache's chef Julian Medina and his staff regularly sip them to cool off while working in the hot kitchen). At Medina’s upscale Mexican bistro, it’s fashioned from Pacifico beer, fresh lime juice, a dash of chili powder, hot sauce and a heavily salted rim. Call it a Bloody Mary lite: Bright and fizzy on the tongue, it’s the perfect antidote to a hangover—if you’re lounging around all day on the beach. While you can control the drink’s potency with the amount (and intensity) of hot sauce, it gets diluted as you drink and pour in the rest of the beer. ($8)

Burn Degree: 1st

Hot Stuff? 2 stars. The spiciest element of this mild Michelada is the flavorful rim, a mouthful of salt and chili. Unless you let it sit on your tongue, the only flavors you’ll taste are the salt and lime notes that overpower it.

Toloache (251 W. 50th St., 212-581-1818)