Ari’s Perfect Margarita

Vilis claims to offer the “World’s Greatest Margarita Recipe.” I’m proud to announce that, while my margarita recipe was inspired by his, mine is a vast improvement.

I few days ago I purchased two mixed bags of lemons and limes from the sale rack for $2. I loaded them up with visions of margaritas floating in my head. I ended up with over a quart of hand-squeezed juice, so I’ll be making margaritas for days.

The problem with prepared margarita mixes is that they’re mostly corn syrup and, you know, yuck. Vilis’s margarita recipe calls for a can of frozen lemonade concentrate. The problem is that I couldn’t find one of these that didn’t feature corn syrup (still yuck). Plus Vilis called for sugar to sweeten especially sour lemonade. A second problem with Vilis’s mix is that it calls for lemon and lime “juice concentrate.” Well, the concentrate stuff is hardly as good as freshly squeezed juice. I solved both problems with the following recipe.

1. 1.5 cups of freshly squeezed lemon-lime juice.
2. 1 can of 100% frozen white grape juice concentrate. This sweetens the mix nicely.
3. 1/3 bottle of cheap, rice-based beer (Bud, Coors, etc.)
4. 1.5 cups of tequila. Vilis likes Jose Cuervo; I use Sauza Hornito.
5. 1/2 cup Grand Marnier.

Vilis blends his mix with ice. I prefer to poor my mix over the rocks. Then “stop hiding, and start living, with tequila.”