The True Story Of The Margarita

There are a few things that make margaritas so damn good. For starters, a margarita’s main ingredient, tequila, has been around long enough for us Aussies to develop a taste for it, with Australia being one of the first places tequila was distributed globally. To make matters even more delicious, the Aussie palate is quite sour, and margaritas just so happen to fall into this flavour profile. A classic sour cocktail in Australia is generally two parts sour to one part sweet, whereas in Europe it’s more like one to one, and in America, it can run as sweet as one part sour, two parts sweet.

There’s also tequila’s health and wellness “benefits”. No, we’re not saying a margarita a day will keep the doctor away, but the agave plant (from which tequila is made) is one of the most naturally grown products in the spirit industry. Blue agave (the stuff in Olmeca Altos tequila), grows for 7-8 years in mineral-rich volcanic soil, before being hand-picked by a jimador (an agave harvester). Next, you need to break down the massive pineapple-looking pit (or ‘piña’) before cooking, crushing, fermenting and distilling. There are only a handful of producers in Mexico who still use this traditional method, and Olmeca Altos is one of them. Need another reason to get stuck in? Here’s two. Tequila’s lower calorie than most spirits, and doesn’t elevate your blood-sugar levels in quite the same way.

As for who invented the margarita…well, there are a few stories floating about. Watch our video to get the low-down, and learn how to make a dead-easy classic margarita, courtesy of Slip Inn’s Gabs Hepworth.