Teach me the secrets of a good margarita

I love love LOVE a good margarita and i'm failing at making one.

Most recent try from The Bartender's Bible:
2oz tequila
.25oz triple sec
1.75oz fresh lime juice

Shake with ice. Pour. Drink.

Crazy sour. Still good to drink, but didn't have that mellow and cooling properties that a good margarita has.

I don't remember the proportions off-hand, but my best margaritas were made with good tequila, fresh squeezed lime juice, simple syrup, and Cointreau. I think it was about a 4:2:2:1 ratio. Shake with ice and strain.

Simple syrup is easy to make; just dissolve sugar in water in a 2:1 ratio (that's 2 parts sugar in 1 part water) as you bring it to a boil, and let it come to room temperature. This should temper the sourness a bit.

I'm wondering if the simple syrup is the key.

Step 1: drive to nearest Mexican joint

Step 2: order a margarita

Step 3: enjoy!

Add agave nectar to your recipe. It will sweeten it and take off the edge of the sour. A squeeze or two should be enough. Also try adding your Cointreau and tequila in equal parts and easing off on the lime juice.

Mitchell wrote: I don't remember the proportions off-hand, but my best margaritas were made with good tequila, fresh squeezed lime juice, simple syrup, and Cointreau. I think it was about a 4:2:2:1 ratio. Shake with ice and strain. Simple syrup is easy to make; just dissolve sugar in water in a 2:1 ratio (that's 2 parts sugar in 1 part water) as you bring it to a boil, and let it come to room temperature. This should temper the sourness a bit.

You can substitute simple syrup for orange juice for a nice flip.

Oh yeah, just for the record that is also the key with southern sweet tea. You never mix in granulated sugar to cold tea. You melt the sugar with the hot tea.

Then add sufficient quantities till you instantly go into diabetic shock.

1800 tequila, sugar the rim of your glass and make like in the original post

But I prefer a good tequila sunrise dont use concentrated orange juice and roses

My because of the ingredients of a good margarita are rarely around and I like making drinks on the fly, try this.

4 parts Tequilla, nothing special well is fine 2 parts triple sec (this is what lets you get away with the cheap stuff, triple sec is the anti tequila in the taste department) 1 part lime juice.

8 parts minimum of lemonade. The lime juice and lemonade give you your sweet and sour.

Cheap quick dirty and no one knows the difference.

When I was in New Mexico a few weeks ago the couple times I got a margarita they were actually made with agava wine and not tequila. And they were awesome. I don't know how to make them any differently (I don't know that I've ever made a margarita) but if you have the option, it's worth a try.

You want one for the masses? This will make any purist choke and send me to the devil, but, this:
-Fill blender bucket with ice.
-2 inches of whatever rotgut tequila you have
-Half of a can of limeade juice concentrate
-a few dashes of triple sec if you want.
-Blend
-Garnish with lime and salt rim
-Watch panties drop.
-Repeat.

Flight Service wrote: My because of the ingredients of a good margarita are rarely around and I like making drinks on the fly, try this. 4 parts Tequilla, nothing special well is fine 2 parts triple sec (this is what lets you get away with the cheap stuff, triple sec is the anti tequila in the taste department) 1 part lime juice. 8 parts minimum of lemonade. The lime juice and lemonade give you your sweet and sour. Cheap quick dirty and no one knows the difference.

You beat me to it. This is the stupidest and (best tasting) cheap and easy mar-gar that is possible. Just like the chains make it.

Hrmmm i'll try a few of these.

Mainly i'm trying to re-create the $20, $30, and $40 margaritas i had in Gas Lantern district in San Francisco i think. That mexican joint we hit up ruined me forever.

WOW …. I've never seen a drink that I'd pay $20 for … much less $40 … (I used to be a bartender and Mitchell does it the way we did )

In reply to Teh E36 M3:

I find the 2 tequila to 1 part triple sec to be the key. You can use any rot gut Tequilia you want as long as that ratio stays fairly consistent.

I use to bartend at a club and at the Nashville Sheraton Downtown during my misspent 20's.

I was surprised how much my cheap and dirty fooled the legislatures girlfriends when they come in.

As far as the $40 drink, we had a $50 shot. Johnny Walker Blue.

Best margarita ever: Step one, Get a glass. Step two, Pour some bourbon into it. Step three, pound said bourbon. Step four, What was the question?

Anyways, I've had maybe 20 or so different margaritas. There are 3 that stand out above the rest: Kirkland brand margarita (step one, open bottle--step 2, pour over ice and enjoy), Skinny Girl margarita (same steps as earlier), and Fernando's margarita at the golf club I used to work at.

With that in mind, I would find a Mexican who tends bar at a very high end restaurant and ask what he does. It probably involves extremely expensive tequila.

This is a classic twist on the original recipe.

Rock glass.
Ice.
Patron Repsado.
Rim the glass with lime if you must.

In reply to Swank Force One:

Yeah, you're totally missing the simple syrup. Add that until the taste is where you want it.

1 cup sugar and 1 cup water, heated in a pan until all the sugar is absorbed.

Best margarita ever:

4 count tequila 2 count triple sec 2 count simple syrup lime juice super quick splashes of sprite and orange juice.

Trust me. Might not look authentic from the recipe, but it tastes perfect.

Best margarita ever-

Throw the tequila away. Drink whiskey instead.

Silver Tequilla, Contreau, Lime Juice.

Swank Force One wrote: I'm wondering if the simple syrup is the key.

Yes. Simple syrup or superfine sugar. I also use more triple sec or cointreau.

Usually: 2oz tequila, 1oz triple sec, 1 lime, 1/2 teaspoon sugar.

Triple sec is (too sweet) a cheap and weak substitute for Cointreau.

Silver Tequilla has less or no pepper in it.

MoAR tequila.

I use the 4:2:1 rule myself - 4 parts tequila, 2 parts triple sec (or Cointreau or Grand Marnier depending on your budget), 1 part lime juice. No simple syrup the way I make them, although if you want a sweeter version, that would be how I'd do it. Just keep in mind that a lot of restaurant margaritas are vaguely alcoholic fruit drinks and this is a vaguely fruity alcohol drink. Don't try a 32 ounce version...