Sip into Summer Margaritas are the centerpiece of warm-weather beverages – and of a contest for our readers

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There have been plenty of odes to alcohol over the years. The long-car-ride staple “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” comes to mind. Who could forget UB-40’s pop classic, “Red, Red Wine”? Billy Joel sang the virtues of “a bottle of red, a bottle of white.” And while it isn’t exactly catchy, George Thorogood’s “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” has a certain barroom charm.

But when it comes to liquor lyrics, Jimmy Buffett is the reigning king. And it’s no surprise – his most memorable song honors the most unforgettable of drinks:

“I blew out my flip-flop,

stepped on a pop-top,

cut my heel, had to cruise on back home.

But there’s booze in the blender,

and soon it will render

that frozen concoction that helps me hang on.

Wasted away again in Margaritaville.

Searching for my lost shaker of salt.

Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame,

but I know it’s my own damn fault.”

You can blame it on a woman (a little rationalization never hurt anyone). You can blame it on a blown-out flip-flop – or a blowout with your boss (nothing eases the pain like a slushy glass full of mango and tequila). But the folks at Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant in Orono have another explanation for the allure of that frozen – or shaken – concoction.

“It’s a good-time drink,” said Asa Honey of Brewer, a National Guardsman who has tended bar off and on at the restaurant for more than 10 years. “It’s associated with fun times and summer.”

Summer is reason enough to celebrate, but just in case you needed an excuse, we’re asking readers to vote for the best margarita in central, eastern and northern Maine. What better way to toast the season than with a frosty blend of tequila, freshly squeezed lime juice, Cointreau or triple sec served in a salt-rimmed glass? How about a slushy, sweet, fruity cocktail?

On a steamy June evening, Honey stood behind the bar, pouring strawberries, ice, fresh-squeezed fruit juices and tequila into a blender for the most-requested drink of the season, a frozen strawberry margarita. He explained that he’s made “a billion of these things” over the years. Though the restaurant offers 10 specialty margaritas, from the tangy Spider Cider to the pina colada-esque Lime in the Coconut, Honey says the strawberry margarita is a perennial favorite.

But customers still line up for the original, on the rocks, with salt. The key to a good margarita, Honey says, is the blend of ingredients and the way they’re handled. Though the brand is a personal preference, he recommends 100 percent agave tequila, made purely from the succulent plant. Fresh lime juice is best. And you need to give it all a good, solid shake.

It’s clear that what started out as a humble blend of tequila, lime juice and triple sec has morphed into a fruity flavorfest, but the history of the drink is a bit murkier. Some claim it originated in Mexico in the 1930s. According to Margaritaville.com, Jimmy Buffett’s official Web site, many trace it back to Danny Herrera, a bartender in Mexico who created the cocktail for a showgirl named Marjorie King. She was allergic to every form of alcohol except tequila, and she could only drink that mixed.

Among the more colorful origins on The Cocktail Times Web site is a Christmas party thrown by Texas socialite Margarita Sames, who mixed three parts tequila with one part each Cointreau and lime. It was a smashing (and, most likely, smashed) success.

Chicago chef Rick Bayless, who hosts “Mexico, One Plate at a Time” on public television, has spent most of his life traveling in and celebrating the regional cuisine of Mexico. At his restaurants, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, he serves several versions of the classic margarita, but even he’s unsure whether or not the drink hails from Mexico.

“There’s certainly loads and loads and loads of stories, and people will tell you theirs [with great conviction],” Bayless said by phone from Chicago. “In recent years, margaritas are more widely made in Mexico, but people are still thinking of margaritas as really the tourist drink there. Tequila is thought of as something you drink alone.”

There are some tequilas – the aged, complex types – that don’t belong in a margarita. That said, Bayless has been dressing up younger, brighter-flavored tequilas for more than two decades at Frontera. But you won’t find a sugary, slushy drink on the menu at either of his restaurants.

“Some of them can be OK,” he said. “Mostly, they tend to be sweet, sweet drinks, and I tend to prefer something not so sweet.”

Instead, Bayless prefers to let the pure flavors of the liquor and the juices shine through. His original margarita consists of fresh-squeezed lime juice and lime zest steeped overnight. The tequila, and a little bit of water, come later.

“That creates a rich roundness,” Bayless said.

A few years after Frontera opened, he added another margarita to the menu, with a limonada base (limeade), Sauza Conmemorativo Anejo (aged) tequila and Gran Torres, an orange liqueur from Spain. A bit of coarse salt on the rim of the glass rounds out the mix.

“I believe that all of the flavors are really balanced by a little salt,” he said, comparing a margarita without salt to an unsalted pretzel.

In his most basic recipe, he combines one part each freshly squeezed lime juice, Cointreau and El Tesoro blanco tequila. It’s simplicity at its finest and most sip-worthy – something Bayless champions.

“Classic margaritas are so beautifully balanced in their flavor,” he said. He encourages people to “play around with the real stuff. A margarita isn’t just a sweet drink you have when you’re having bad Mexican food. There’s a completely separate side of margaritas that’s really sophisticated.”

Think stilettos and ceviche, not flip-flops and sponge cake.

Whether you like it sweet and slushy or salty and shaken, we want to know who serves the best margarita in the region. Tell us your favorite flavor, and feel free to share any funny margarita-related stories (if you can remember). We’ll collect the responses, report the results and visit the three places garnering the most votes.

Now, where did that salt shaker go?

Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.

Tell Us!

Who serves the best margarita in central, eastern or northern Maine? And what’s your favorite flavor? Do you have any funny margarita stories (you know you do!)? The BDN would like to know. We’ll collect the responses, report the results and visit the three places garnering the most votes.

Respond in writing, either by e-mailing kandresen@bangordailynews.net (write “margarita” in the subject line) or by mailing to: Margarita poll, c/o Kristen Andresen, Bangor Daily News, 491 Main St., Bangor, ME 04401. Deadline for responses is July 16.