{"id":25223,"date":"2021-06-25T17:30:37","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T00:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000020953"},"modified":"2021-06-25T18:22:19","modified_gmt":"2021-06-26T01:22:19","slug":"a-cocktail-with-a-story-chuntikis-in-long-beach-explores-latino-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/a-cocktail-with-a-story-chuntikis-in-long-beach-explores-latino-history","title":{"rendered":"A cocktail with a story: Chuntikis in Long Beach explores Latino history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julio Gutierrez wouldn\u2019t consider himself a history buff, but he\u2019s spiraled down a few Google rabbit holes, all for the love and integrity of his pop-up cocktail concept, Chuntikis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the last year since he launched Chuntikis, Gutierrez has concocted nearly 80 tiki-derivative craft cocktails, each inspired and designed to share a story about Latino culture and Hispanic communities\u2014communities, he said, that have been grossly overlooked in the craft cocktail world.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Tiki] it’s never marketed to people like, say, my parents, that are like immigrants to this country,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cIt’s interesting because a lot of the flavors being used in these cocktails are flavors that immigrants brought.\u201d<\/p>\n

From imported spirits, like rum and tequila, to citrus\u2014core ingredients in dozens of tiki staples\u2014most rarely think twice about the wages, living conditions or histories of the communities that made your impending sugary hangover possible.<\/p>\n

And U.S. markets, Gutierrez noted, rarely bother to include the communities which, culturally speaking, they ought to show affinity toward.<\/p>\n

\u201cMezcal has kind of gotten popular over the last couple months or years but it\u2019s all these Mezcal companies trying to push it down hipsters and white kids, they\u2019re never gearing it towards Hispanics,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cIf you look at the ads \u2026a lot of these pages are in English. Even if it\u2019s a Hispanic Mezcal brand, it\u2019s all in English.\u201d<\/p>\n

To remedy this, Gutierrez posts his recipes and their respective historical inspirations on Instagram in Spanish first, then English. Gutierrez will also donate roughly 13% of his profits to a cause or charity that supports those communities.<\/p>\n

The name of his pop-up \u201cChuntikis\u201d Gutierrez said, is a fusion of \u201ctiki\u201d with the Mexico City slang word \u201cchunti,\u201d a derogatory phrase familiar to most anyone who speaks Spanish. But he\u2019s turned that on its head too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I might have grown up hearing other people call each other\u2014mostly Hispanics putting other Hispanics down. I decided to use that term and kind of empower it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Inspiration for his recipes can come from anywhere Gutierrez said. From mere observations, such as the Flores Callejeras cocktail\u2014inspired by a street vendor Gutierrez saw selling flowers, oranges and surgical masks\u2014to obscure pop-culture figures and historical events.<\/p>\n