Normally I talk about food and drink holidays in the lens of “Five Favorites” because I like the structure. But why not today’s tequila talk? Because I wanted to keep it simple.
I just want so share the basic recipe, my favorite vessel, and that’s it. So stretching this out to five things would be pointless (like requiring five pages for a weak argument) – so instead of boring you, I’m just going to get in, make my point, and get out.
It’s National Tequila Day after all and I don’t want to hold you up.
Disclosure: This site contains affiliate links; I may earn a tiny commission from purchases – BUT NOT FROM AMAZON.
According to NationalDayCalendar.com, July 24th is National Tequila Day. Click the link below to zap over to their site and read the history if you’re interested!
So this year I am celebrating with a fresh margarita (although National Margarita Day was on February 22) because the darling margarita is the only tequila drink I like. I’m sure there’s more…but I haven’t set aside time yet to explore tequila-based cocktails. So here’s how I make a margarita: batches; I don’t make them one glass at a time, I prefer the consistency of batches, so here’s my basic BATCH recipe (hehe).
Lady Jupiter’s Basic Margarita
Ingredients
- 4 Fresh limes
- Grand Marnier
- Tequila
- Crushed ice
- (optional) Salt to garnish
Instructions
- Juice the limes into a straight-walled container. This volume is one part.
[One part fresh lime juice] - Add one part Grand Marnier; double the current volume. This volume is now two parts.
[One part Grand Marnier] - Add two parts tequila; thus doubling the last volume.
[Two parts tequila] - Pour mixture over crushed ice and garnish with a pinch of salt
Notes:
I start with the smallest or most unknown volume first, which is usually limes (unless you have easy access to large volumes of fresh squeezed lime juice).
Photos show the batch building in a large tea strainer, but I have made this in a Nalgene bottle to travel with – the container doesn’t matter, as long as it’s not metal. Glass is ideal, and plastic is a great back up.
If your brain requires measurements, start with 2oz fresh lime juice, 2oz Grand Marnier, and 4oz tequila – pour over crushed ice and garnish with salt.
I prefer Grand Marnier. But any orange liquor is good; Cointreau is a popular alternative.
Regarding tequila, use whatever you like! Mister Jupiter and I aren’t big fans of tequila overall, but we generally prefer reposados over anejos, and we don’t like white tequilas.
We try a new brand with each purchase because we haven’t found the house favorite yet – and that’s okay! I look forward to finding our favorite, but until then we will enjoy the sense of adventure and discovery as we try not-yet-favorites. I’ll admit though, that George Clooney’s Casamigos tequila is really good and I buy it when I want something good without question.
Otherwise – definitely squeeze fresh limes. I used mixes in the past (sorry Justin), and I have learned the error of my ways (again, sorry). Fresh limes taste better, are cheaper, are more authentic…and they don’t take forever to squeeze if you have any basic citrus press. This is one of the reasons that I make margs in batches – it’s super easy when you start with the limes, and you only need to wash the juice off your hands once.
Lastly…what are you still doing here?!
Go make some fresh margaritas and enjoy the rest of your day.
Oh! Post Script – In my experience I only need about 4-5 limes for each batch. This means that my little 375ml bottle of Grand Marnier lasts two batches, and that one ready-to-drink batch of margaritas will fit in my preferred glass straining bottle.
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Lady Jupiter 