I had a few people over to my place last night for Margaritas and Singstar. The aim of the evening was to find the best Margarita recipe. The three basic Margarita ingredients are tequila, triple sec and lime juice.

We used a blanco tequila – Pepe Lopez silver. You can also use a reposado for a bit more of an oaky taste but I find the blanco better. The more aged (anejo) tequilas aren’t as good for margaritas.

Triple sec is an orange liqueur. We used Cointreau which is a much better orange liqueur but has twice the alcohol content.

Margaritas are best with fresh lemon/lime juice. Apparently lime juice is the best, but limes are very small and expensive so we used half lemon juice and half lime juice which worked just as well. We used 1kg of limes and 1.5kg of lemons.

Most people find Margaritas made with just lemon/lime juice and the alcohol to be far too tart, so it is common to use sweet and sour mix instead of the lime juice. We made ourselves some sugar syrup that was more than 66% sugar and mixed it roughly 50/50 with the lemon & lime juice to get the right balance of sweet and sour.

Salting the rim of the glass is also important, since the salt enhances the taste of the margarita.

How you combine the tequila, triple sec and sour mix to make the margarita turns out to be the area of most variance. I prefer 2:1:1, shaken on the rocks. The others (based on what they had in Texas) prefer 1 part tequila, 1 part cointreau and 2 parts sour mix, for a 1:1:2 ratio served with crushed ice.
Although I didn’t try it last night, I think I’d also quite like a 3:2:1 ratio on the rocks.

The majority conclusion was that 1:1:2 Margaritas are yummy, country music is great, and singing is more fun when everyone is a bit tipsy.

Ingredients:

• 2 parts gin
• 1 part cointreau
• 1 part lemon juice

Instructions:

Shake with ice, strain into glass and garnish with a slice of lemon or orange.

This is similar in taste to the Maiden’s Blush but less sweet. Very nice though, this is something I’d make again.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 parts gin
• 1/2 part Cointreau
• 1/2 part sour mix
• spash of grenadine

Instructions:

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

I’m not normally a fan of gin, but this is actually quite nice. The sweetness of the Cointreau and the sour mix balance the gin very nicely without overpowering its flavour.

I just bought some more tequila so I finally got to make one of my favourite drinks.

Ingredients:

• 3 parts tequila (I used El Jimador Reposado)
• 2 parts triple sec (I used Cointreau)
• 1 part lime juice or sour mix (I used fresh lime juice)

Instructions:

Shake with ice and strain into a margarita glass or cocktail glass rimmed with ice and garnish with a lime wedge/wheel.

What I made is pretty similar to what you get at the Mexican Cafe (or almost any other bar) except that they normally use sour mix instead of lime juice. Sour mix is lime or lemon juice (or both) sweetened with sugar, and is sometimes called sweet-and-sour mix. It makes the drink a lot sweeter, but I think I actually prefer it with just plain lime juice.

Ingredients:

• 1 part Cointreau
• 1 part dark rum
• 1 part cream

Instructions:

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I put mine in one of my wine glasses just because I felt like a change.

This tastes a bit stronger and harsher than I am used to, especially for a creamy drink. The triple sec gives it a bit of sweetness and a hint of orange flavour but the rum dominates the other two.

The quality and flavour of the rum definitely affects this drink. I used Coruba, and I really don’t know whether that’s a particularly good rum. I’m nearly out of Coruba so I might try this again when I replace it with some other dark rum.

I didn’t like this so much when I first sipped it, but it has since grown on me.

Ingredients:

• 2 parts vodka
• 1 part triple sec
• 1 part lime juice
• 1 part cranberry juice

Instructions:

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass. It should be garnished with a lime wedge or twist but I couldn’t be arsed.

I really like this cocktail. Apparently it was made famous recently by some TV show that I don’t watch.

I like the way the sweetness of the triple sec contrasts with the lime juice, and how the taste of the vodka & cranberry still come through.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 Kahlua
• 1/3 Baileys
• 1/3 Cointreau

Instructions:

Layer in a shot glass in that order.  Carefully.

If you want to see how it’s done, this video from VideoJug shows the technique.   I think mine looks even better than the one in the video (if I do say so myself).  

Here’s another video that shows how not to do it. 

This drink can also be made with Grand Marnier or triple sec instead of the Cointreau (all are orange liquers), with Tia Maria instead of Kahlua, and with any Irish Cream or Amarula instead of Baileys.

There are lots of related variants as well, although they are not as well standardised.   You can find the same recipe under different names (and vice versa) all over the web.  For instance, the Cointreau can be replaced with vodka (B-53) amaretto (B-54), creme de menthe or peppermint schnapps (B-57) or black sambuca (Bumble Bee).  

Since I inherited Steve’s alcohol collection, I thought I should make use of it, so expect more random cocktails over the coming months.