What makes a great margarita?
Is it the salt? Is it the type of tequila? Is it the ratio of tart to sweetness?
Alright – I’ll admit, I have no idea what makes a decent margarita mainly because I believe that it’s all relative. If you ask any margarita lover or bartender, I promise you their answers will vary. However, I do think that whether you have specific brand of tequila that you love or whether you like ’em frozen or on the rocks, in my humble opinion, I think that ratio matters. If it’s too much tequila, you’re in for a long night. If it’s too sweet, you’ll probably have a really bad headache from the sugar rush. No matter how you enjoy your margaritas, my advice would be to make sure it’s cold and preferably you’re enjoying it by the beach. Wouldn’t that be perfect?
Anyway, occasionally I make margaritas at home but for the most part I usually just enjoy them when I’m out. And big (maybe small) surprise: I generally get my margaritas without salt. Not sure why but for me, the salt intensifies the flavor of the tequila *too* much for my taste buds. Now once in a blue moon, I’ll forget to tell my bartender that I prefer it without salt and I’ll drink it with the salt. I think that as I get older, I may be adjusting just slightly to salted margaritas. We’ll see.
When I make margaritas at home, I always make them fresh. What do I mean by fresh: no pre-made, sugary mix. No, no, no.
When I order margaritas at restaurants and you can taste the artificial flavoring, it seriously makes me sad. The difference between a margarita made with a mix and one that isn’t is HUGE (*imagine a Donald Trump voice*). Anyway, recently I stumbled upon a homemade (very easy) margarita mix from the ladies over on A Beautiful Mess. Delicious, not time consuming and it can be made with fruits other than limes in case you’re looking for a bit of variety.
Ratios will differ but with this particular round of margaritas that I made at home, I used a 2:1:1 ratio but if you do a simple Google search for margarita ratios, you will easily find a million other options. For me, this one worked.
What do I mean 2:1:1?
2 ounces of tequila // 1 ounce of margarita mix // 1 ounce of triple sec or other liqueur
If you don’t have triple sec, I like to substitute it with St. Germain.
I did add a bit of salt to the rim of my glass; you could also do sugar rim or some type of fancy salt like Himalayan sea salt or a spicy seasoned salt.
So, how you like your margaritas?
