In July 2020, Margarita Margarita founder Jessica Cheetham welcomed a new addition to the family – a 1972 Commer Highwayman van named Stanley.
“Stanley came with the name,” she says. “I talk about him like he’s a person and it takes people a while for it to click that I’m speaking about the truck.”
After gaining a reputation among friends for her well-honed Margarita recipe, she brought Stanley over from the UK and decked it out as a mobile bar, exclusively serving the zesty cocktail. Since then, Cheetham and Stanley have toured weddings, parties and corporate dos, always with the same result: requests for her top-secret recipe.
“People were drinking our Margaritas and saying, ‘How do I make Margs that taste like yours at home?’ or, ‘I didn’t like Margaritas but I loved this’,” says Cheetham.
Now she’s bottling a base mixer to help people get that Margarita Margarita experience at home. Unlike more traditional Margaritas, this version owes its success to a subtle substitution.
“Ours is a lemon-based foundation, so it’s very smooth, it’s very easy to drink, it’s very moreish,” says Cheetham. “Unlike the lime-based mixers, you don’t have the burn down the back of your throat. It zings, it doesn’t sting.”
The mixer is the base that brings the signature flavour – you just need to bring the alcohol. Mix 95 millilitres of the Margarita base with 15 millilitres of triple sec and 30 millilitres of your chosen tequila in your cocktail shaker, then “shake it up, serve it over some fresh ice in your glass with a salt rim and it’s guaranteed to be the best Margarita of your life”.
The online shop also has other ingredients and equipment that can help you make a good Margarita at home: a shaker, jigger and strainer, two crystal-cut pink glasses and sea salt flakes from the Great Ocean Road.
And, after the success of the classic Marg, Cheetham has also released new passionfruit and blood orange flavours. The fruity twists might not be traditional, but Cheetham says they help achieve what she believes to be the true purpose of the drink.
“For me, a good Margarita gives you that instant ‘I’m on holiday’ vibe,” she says. “Whether you’re on a beach in Hawaii or you’re in a backyard in Brisbane – a really good Margarita, you can’t beat it.”
Get 10 per cent off your first Margarita Margarita order with the code MARGS10 at the checkout.
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