Our house margarita is 2 oz tequila and 1 oz each of fresh lime juice, agave syrup and triple sec, shaken with ice and poured over fresh ice in a rocks glass. It's a from-scratch margarita with agave syrup and triple sec, no bottled mix, and the 2:1:1:1 ratio is easy to remember mid-party. October is backyard season at its best: cool nights, a fire going, friends around the bar. Here's how we make it at ours, plus how to batch a pitcher so you spend the party shaking drinks, not squeezing limes.
What you'll need (and why it matters)
Tequila (2 oz): the backbone, at twice the pour of anything else. Look for 100% agave on the label, which means no sugars other than blue Weber agave's went into it.
Fresh lime juice (1 oz): the official IBA margarita spec calls for freshly squeezed lime juice, so skip the bottled kind.
Agave syrup (1 oz): made from juice extracted from the heart of the agave plant, the piña. Most of its sugar is fructose. In our spec it matches the lime ounce for ounce.
Triple sec (1 oz): an orange-flavored liqueur. The orange liqueur is what keeps this a margarita rather than a tequila sour, and it brings the orange the agave can't.
How to build it
01
Ice the glass
We serve ours without salt. If you want it, run a lime wedge around the outside of half the rim and roll that half in salt, so every sip can go either way. Then fill the glass with fresh ice.
02
Load the shaker
Add 2 oz tequila, 1 oz fresh lime juice, 1 oz agave syrup and 1 oz triple sec to a shaker, then fill it with ice.
03
Shake hard
About 12 seconds of hard shaking chills the drink, dilutes it and whips in tiny air bubbles for a lighter texture. Past that, it barely gets colder.
04
Strain and garnish
Strain over the fresh ice and add a lime wheel. Serve it right away, while the texture from the shake is still there.
FROM BEHIND 5,000+ BARS
Pouring for a crowd? Stir the tequila, lime juice, agave syrup and triple sec together in a pitcher and keep it cold, 2 parts tequila to 1 part each of the rest. As each margarita is ordered, shake 5 oz (150 mL) of the mix with ice, so every glass gets a fresh shake. Squeeze the limes within a few hours of the party, because past about 6 hours fresh lime juice can turn bitter. And keep the ice close: a margarita bar runs on ice.
THE RECIPE CARD
Margarita
SERVES
UNIT
Prep: 3 min · Glass: Rocks · Method: Shaken, strained over fresh ice
Ingredients
2oz tequila
1oz fresh lime juice
1oz agave syrup
1oz triple sec
A lime wheel per glass, to garnish
Optional: salt for half the rim (wet it with a lime wedge, then roll it in salt).
Batching tip: stir the tequila, lime juice, agave syrup and triple sec together in a pitcher and keep it cold. Shake 5 oz (150 mL) of the mix with ice for each drink as it's ordered. Squeeze the limes within a few hours of serving.
Method
Salt half the rim of a rocks glass if you like, then fill it with fresh ice.
Add one drink's worth of tequila, lime juice, agave syrup and triple sec to a shaker with ice.
Shake hard for about 12 seconds.
Strain over the fresh ice and garnish with a lime wheel.
Margarita FAQ
What's in a margarita?
A margarita is traditionally tequila, an orange liqueur and lime juice. Ours uses four ingredients: tequila, fresh lime juice, agave syrup and triple sec. Margarita is Spanish for daisy, and the drink is probably a tequila take on the old Daisy family: a spirit, citrus and a sweetener, either a syrup or a liqueur.
How much tequila is in a margarita?
In ours, 2 oz per drink, twice the pour of each of the other three. That 2:1:1:1 ratio scales cleanly: a pitcher for six is 12 oz tequila and 6 oz each of lime juice, agave syrup and triple sec.
Can you make a margarita without triple sec?
You can. Any orange liqueur can take its place, and Julio Bermejo's Tommy's Margarita swaps some or all of it for agave syrup. Drop the orange liqueur completely, though, and strictly speaking you have a tequila sour. Our spec keeps both the triple sec and the agave syrup.
How do you make a margarita on the rocks?
Shake it with ice, then strain it into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Most margaritas are served one of two ways: over ice in a rocks glass, like ours, or straight up in a margarita glass. Some are blended frozen.
Make it seasonal
For a fall margarita, try a reposado. It rests at least two months in oak and tends to make a mellower margarita with soft vanilla notes. Add a splash of fresh apple cider and you have an apple cider margarita for fire-pit nights.
