Margaritas are the bomb.com, but most people don’t realize you can create these tasty treats at home. All you need is the right liquor, the right mixers/fruit and possibly a blender, if you’re into the frozen stuff.  It’s really simple and a great idea for when you throw a party.

We’ll start with the liquor. There’s no tequila police, so use whatever suits your fancy. Here are some things to consider when you’re in the liquor aisle: 

What the heck is blue agave?

You don’t really have to worry about it when you’re buying your liquor because all proper tequila is made of blue agave.

Silver or gold tequila?

There isn’t too much of a difference when it comes to cheaper tequila, which most of us will probably be buying instead of the expensive stuff. Cheap gold tequila just has coloring and additives in it to both add flavor and to make it look more like it went through the process that expensive tequilas go through to get the darker color. Silver tequila is clear and it’s bottled immediately after it’s distilled.

You haven’t answered my question: do I buy clear tequila or gold tequila?

It really doesn’t matter that much if you’re the average college student with no exemplary tequila experience. Silver tequila tends to be stronger, but gold tequila is generally used in frozen margaritas.

Resposado? Añejo? Reserva? What?

Be ready to shell out some extra coin if you’re looking for bottles with these little words on them. Tequila that’s been kept to improve quality is going to cost you more. Rested, or resposado, tequila is simply tequila that’s been kept in casks or vats for two to 12 months. Añejo tequila is aged in casks for over a year and reserva tequila is aged for up to eight years — it’s in the big leagues in both price and taste.

The other major liquor

You may have heard of both Cointreau and triple sec as separate things, but they’re basically the same. Cointreau is just a higher quality type of triple sec, so you can go with the cheap stuff and get the same effect — more or less.

Basic margarita ingredients:

–       liquor — tequila and triple sec

–       sweet and sour mix — rocks or frozen margarita

–       mixers frozen margarita — you can do fresh fruit, frozen fruit or puree mixes — found in the liquor aisle, etc.

–       garnishes — lime, strawberry or orange slice, etc.

–       simple syrup — take the easy way out and just use a splash of pineapple juice

–       salt — to rim your glass

–       lime juice to rim your glass for salt to stick; can add to margarita too.

Setting up your bar:

–       plate for salt

–       plate for lime juice

–       cut fruit, mixes, liquor and ice

–       blender

If you’re making a basic rocks margarita — no blender, just ice and your ingredients, then the process is simple:

1. salt the rim of your glass
2. fill your cup with ice
3. add your proportions of tequila, 2 oz., and triple sec, 1 oz.
4. add your sweet and sour mix
5. throw in whatever else you want — lime juice/pineapple juice
6. garnish with the fruit of your choice.

Frozen margaritas — think of a flavored liquor slushie — follow the same sort of process, except you throw all the stuff in a blender first. One of the benefits of frozen margaritas is being able to mix different flavors like pineapple, mango, banana or strawberry. Rock margaritas don’t cope well with puree mixes, so it’s best to stay with a traditional sweet and sour, commonly called a “lime” margarita.