If the margaritas served at your favorite watering hole always seem to taste better than the ones you make at home, maybe it’s not just the ingredients or your technique — it could also be the equipment you’re using. Whether they’re making the cocktail classic or frozen, mixologists have their own “secret weapon” bar kits that include the best tools to help them get the job done right. We talked to experts to get the 411 on the best gear for your margs, whether you’re drinking them for Cinco de Mayo or year-round.
Meet the margarita experts
“The margarita is part of the cocktail family known as daisies, which means it’s a sour cocktail whose sweetness comes from a liqueur, which in this case is Cointreau,” Ivy Mix told HuffPost. Mix, author of “Spirits of Latin America: A Celebration of Culture and Cocktails,” owns Latin cocktail bar Leyenda and wine and spirits shop Fiasco!, both in Brooklyn, New York. “Most booze history is a little blurry, because — surprise— people were drinking, but the margarita probably came from northern Mexico or Texas before it became popularized in America. When made correctly, it’s the most delicious drink in the world,” she said.
“Everybody knows the marg — it’s a signature cocktail that’s been everywhere from weddings to family parties to taco Tuesdays,” Anali Martinez Gonzalez, the tastemaker known as The Nueva Latina, told HuffPost.
“It was the first cocktail I ever learned to make, when I was 18 years old,” mixologist and agave spirits specialist Carlos Ruiz told HuffPost. “From that day on, it was my favorite cocktail.”
Maxwell Reis is beverage director at Los Angeles’ Gracias Madre, where they often sell more than 1,000 margaritas a day, including a $100 version made with vintage spirits and served in a 1960s-era glass. “Man, I love a marg,” he told HuffPost. “Nobody orders one when they’re in a bad mood, and you feel good when you have one in your hand. It’s a joyous cocktail.”
And then there’s Susan Garcia, cofounder of Create-a-Cocktail, which hosts virtual events and private parties, in addition to selling curated cocktail kits.
Here are tools that help these experts make the perfect margarita.
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Get the Kuhn Rinkon knife for $12
Get the OXO Good Grips citrus prep peeler and zester for $7.99
Mix loves the $15 Rabbit manual cocktail juicer, also known as an elbow juicer, for smaller jobs, and prefers the commercial-grade citrus tool called the OrangeX, which sells for about $180, for bigger jobs.
Get the Rabbit manual juicer for $14.99
Get the OrangeX juicer for $179.95
Whichever type you buy, be sure to use it every time, he said: “Especially with a simple cocktail like this, there’s nothing hide behind, so you need precision to keep your components well-balanced.”
Get the Leopold jigger for $19
Get the Japanese jigger for $8
Get the Fortessa shaker for $40.31
Ruiz offered a hack for the shakerless would-be mixologist: “You can use a mason jar or a Yeti mug, too — just anything that will hold a seal.”
Get the Yeti tumbler for $29.98
Get the Koriko Hawthorne strainer for $15.99
Get the 3-piece cocktail/tea strainers for $11.99
If you’re far from Austin at the moment, you may need to make your own ice. For home ice-making, Ruiz favors Wintersmiths ice molds, which start at $40. They’re engineered for directional freezing, a process that pushes air bubbles and impurities through a hole at the bottom of the tray. Experts swear by the result — clear ice cubes that melt more slowly and don’t dilute your drink.
Get the Wintersmiths Small Sphere Shape Tray for $40
Get "The Quite One" Vitamix for $1,339
For home use, something much less fancy is just fine. “We love the plain old Oster, which sells for about $25,” Garcia said.
Get the Oster Classic Series Blender for $24.75
Get the Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker starting at $235
Get the Ikea Frasera rocks glass for $2.99
Get the Crate & Barrel Glory margarita glass for $4.95
