The Margarita

The Margarita is a stone-cold Classic cocktail and undoubtedly the most popular Tequila based cocktail you’ll find anywhere in the world. Unlike many Classic cocktails, the ingredients are undisputed. Tequila, lime juice and Triple-sec, with only the latter occasionally being substituted, either by very similar liqueurs like orange curacao, or by branded liqueurs that essentially sit within the same ballpark as being both sweet and (with varying nuances) flavoured with orange. The Tequila can be blanco, reposado or anejo (depending on your preference and budget) and each will bring a subtly different profile to the flavour of the finished cocktail, but blanco is typically the most popular choice.

Whilst the three constituent ingredients are accepted, there are variations in how a Margarita is prepared and presented, with blended, shaken, straight up and on the rocks variations all being completely acceptable. There’s also the question of the Margarita’s trademark salt rim, with some bartenders opting to serve the cocktail with a full salt rim, some preferring to coat half the rim with salt (to give drinkers the choice) and some foregoing salt altogether.

3 top tips for the salt rim

use good quality salt

For guests that do enjoy a salt rim on a Margarita, it’s essential to use good quality salt. Whilst good quality salt won’t make a badly made Margarita taste good, cheap granulated table salt will make a well-made Margarita taste bad and will even make a badly made Margarita taste worse. So sourcing good quality flaked sea salt for your Margaritas is essential!

keep the salt out of the drink

There’s a reason that the salt is added to the rim of the glass rather than being added directly to the shaker or blender. Whilst micro-dosing cocktails with saline solution has become a tool in the bartender’s armoury in recent years the salt on the rim of a Margarita is intended to offer a textural accompaniment as well as a flavour nuance and should be kept on the rim and out of the liquid until the drink is in the hands of the guest and they can enjoy it how they like it. When preparing the salt rim, a quick pass around the inside of the rim with a wedge of lime or a napkin to remove any excess salt from the inner of the glass will help keep the salt and the liquid separated until the point of consumption, as will ensuring that you don’t overfill the glass and leave a clear ‘wash line’ between the cocktail and the rim.

ensure the salt is well adhered to the rim of the glass

This is a slightly complex process and plays to the point above about keeping the salt and the liquid separate. A badly adhered salt rim will quickly fail and fall into the drink and so ensuring the salt is well secured is imperative. This requires an adhesive of some sort be applied to the rim of the glass to keep the salt in place, traditionally this adhesive effect would be achieved by rubbing a wedge of lime around the rim of the glass to create a moist surface that the salt could adhere to, and then immersing the moist rim into a dish of salt. If this process is used, it’s important to ensure that you only moisten the outer of the rim and not the inside edge. To ensure the inside rim of the glass is clear and free from salt, you can quickly run the same lime wedge you ran around the outer rim to moisten it around the inside of the rim to remove any salt that has strayed across the line.

Once you’ve decided on how you’ll serve your Margarita (on the rocks, straight up or blended) and mastered the application of salt to the appropriate glass you’re ready to follow the techniques below to make a Margarita that will wow your guests!

margarita 'on the rocks'

Glass:

Old-fashioned (salt rim, half salt rim or clear rim as desired by the guest)

Ingredients:

50ml Don Julio Blanco

25ml Triple-sec

25ml Fresh lime juice

Garnish:

Lime wedge or wheel

Method:

Pre-prepare and old-fashioned glass with a salt rim as required.

Add the Tequila, Triple-sec and lime juice to a cocktail shaker full with ice and shake hard to mix, chill and dilute, fine strain into a pre-prepared old-fashioned glass full with ice, garnish and serve.

This recipe contains 23.2g alcohol

Margarita 'straight up'

Glass:

Martini or Coupe (salt rim, half salt rim or clear rim as desired by the guest)

Ingredients:

50ml Don Julio Blanco

25ml Triple-sec

25ml Fresh lime juice

Garnish:

Lime wedge or wheel

Method:

Pre-prepare a Martini glass or Coupe glass with a salt rim as required.

Add the Tequila, Triple-sec and lime juice to a cocktail shaker full with ice and shake hard to mix, chill and dilute, fine strain into a pre-prepared Martini or Coupe, garnish and serve.

This recipe contains 23.2g alcohol

Margarita 'blended'

Glass:

Margarita Glass

Ingredients:

50ml Don Julio Blanco

25ml Triple-sec

25ml Fresh lime juice

Garnish:

Lime wedge or wheel

Method:

Pre-prepare a Margarita glass with a salt rim as required.

Add the Tequila, Triple-sec and lime juice to a blender with a small scoop of ice and blend until a smooth, slushy consistency is achieved, pour into a pre-prepared Margarita glass, garnish and serve.

This recipe contains 23.2g alcohol

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