Julio Gutierrez wouldn’t consider himself a history buff, but he’s spiraled down a few Google rabbit holes, all for the love and integrity of his pop-up cocktail concept, Chuntikis.
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—communities, he said, that have been grossly overlooked in the craft cocktail world.
“[Tiki] it’s never marketed to people like, say, my parents, that are like immigrants to this country,” Gutierrez said. “It’s interesting because a lot of the flavors being used in these cocktails are flavors that immigrants brought.”
From imported spirits, like rum and tequila, to citrus—core ingredients in dozens of tiki staples—most rarely think twice about the wages, living conditions or histories of the communities that made your impending sugary hangover possible.
And U.S. markets, Gutierrez noted, rarely bother to include the communities which, culturally speaking, they ought to show affinity toward.
“Mezcal has kind of gotten popular over the last couple months or years but it’s all these Mezcal companies trying to push it down hipsters and white kids, they’re never gearing it towards Hispanics,” Gutierrez said. “If you look at the ads …a lot of these pages are in English. Even if it’s a Hispanic Mezcal brand, it’s all in English.”
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.
The name of his pop-up “Chuntikis” Gutierrez said, is a fusion of “tiki” with the Mexico City slang word “chunti,” a derogatory phrase familiar to most anyone who speaks Spanish. But he’s turned that on its head too.
“It’s something I might have grown up hearing other people call each other—mostly Hispanics putting other Hispanics down. I decided to use that term and kind of empower it,” he said.
Inspiration for his recipes can come from anywhere Gutierrez said. From mere observations, such as the Flores Callejeras cocktail—inspired by a street vendor Gutierrez saw selling flowers, oranges and surgical masks—to obscure pop-culture figures and historical events.
Take the Mil Ponches (which translates to a thousand punches), a three rum fruit punch inspired by Mil Máscaras, known as the man of a thousand masks. Despite credit as the first international superstar of lucha libre (Mexican professional wrestling) Mil Máscaras isn’t a household name.
“Everyone knows about El Santo, everyone knows about Blue Demon, nobody knows about Mil Máscaras,” Gutierrez said. “I decided to make a kind of world evolving drink, every country has a form of fruit punch. It’s just kind of an international thing.”
How Gutierrez arrives at the particulars of his cocktail recipes is a matter of research and ingenuity.
The Zapotec-tek cocktail, for instance, was inspired by the indigenous people from the hills of Puebla and Oaxaca who fought alongside Mexicans in the Battle of Puebla (a victory later celebrated as Cinco de Mayo).
“Everyone knows it was all farmworkers on the Mexican side that beat the French, but no one really knows that these farmworkers and people were mostly natives from the hills of Puebla and Oaxaca,” Gutierrez explained.
Using a Oaxacan Mezcal was an obvious choice. There’s also Long Beach’s own Wille’s Gin, selected for its “piney” subtilties, he said. Green chartreuse and aloe vera liqueur (Chareau) were added “because they probably used a lot of herbs in their medicine,” Gutierrez said.
A splash of blue curacao is meant to represent the sky, he noted, as the Zapotec were known as the people of the clouds. To top the drink, a sprig of Douglass Fir.
“They were probably surrounded by Douglass first in the high elevations of Oaxaca,” he said.
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Some recipes are devised within minutes, others can take months depending on the complexity of the story or person. A cocktail honoring Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla has been in the works for three months, Gutierrez said.
“She did not drink so I’m trying to find flavors that she might have enjoyed,” he explained.
Some have referred to Chuntikis as an underground pop-up. Whether or not Gutierrez aligns with that description himself, his pop-up can feel rather elusive.
As of now, Chuntikis is averaging one or two events a month. Following his Instagram account is paramount if you want to stay in the loop.
With nearly 80 cocktails on his roster, Gutierrez rotates his menu at each pop-up both as a way to keep things fresh and to try out new recipes.
Sometimes they are themed, like his most recent pop-up at Marie’s Tec Tek, inspired by the late Juan Gabriel, a famous Mexican singer who hid his sexuality until the end of his life.
Back by popular demand, Chuntikis will be back at Marie Tek Tec (1115 E. Wardlow Rd) Friday, June 25 from 5 to 10 p.m. (or until he sells out) with Juan Gabriel inspired/centric cocktails. It will also be Chuntikis’ one-year anniversary.
Admittedly, Gutierrez had never intended to start a craft cocktail pop-up. His background for the last decade has been in homebrewing that’s taken him to respected breweries in Los Angeles (such as Monkish) and Long Beach. His current day job is overseeing the brews at Long Beach Beer Lab in Wrigley.
“With my background as a brewer, I slowly realized a lot of the styles that I like, are more of what we called wild beers or spontaneous beers. It’s more on the tart side, sour side, funky side,” he explained. “So, kind of taking that same flavors that I’ve enjoyed, I just applied it to cocktails.”
Reclaiming tiki culture and sharing interesting stories over drinks, it’s all in a day’s work for Gutierrez.
Follow Chuntikis on Instagram to keep up with the pop-up.