Merrick’s SHOUT

Merrick Watts on his latest drinks discovery.

Margaritas are a fun drink at any time of year, but they can be a little hit and miss. If I’m honest, my own attempts at making them have not been great. The most shameful being El Toro Tequila, ice scraped off the inside of the freezer and juice from a plastic lime. Yes, I was living in a share house in my early 20s at the time.

Recently I was with my friend Dave, and he said, “Try this – we’ve been buying loads from this guy in a van.” RED FLAG! Unless ‘the guy’ is Mr Whippy, that is never a good thing, right? But it turns out it’s not nearly as dicey as it sounds. Crawley’s Big Cactus Margarita Mix is a very good margarita mix indeed. It’s delivered around Sydney by a guy in a van (but with a cactus on top instead of an ice cream). It comes in a 550ml bottle, and all you need to do is add the tequila of your choice, shake and pour. Couldn’t be simpler. It contains all-natural ingredients – lime juice, bartender’s agave syrup, agave nectar (none of us have that in the cupboard at home, right?) and water.

Jason Crawley, ‘the guy’ behind this mix, is an award-winning bartender and co-owner of Enmore bar Fortunate Son. So he knows that while simplicity and freshness can be the key to a great drink, critically, it’s also about proportions. There are even clear instructions on the bottle, so it’s idiot-proof, even for a veteran idiot like myself.

The first thing that strikes the palate is the freshness. Zingy lime fruit, acidity and sweetness are balanced with the tequila kick. If you want to add a splash of soda to the bottle to dilute the tequila, it won’t diminish the flavour. It’s an easy, no-mess party starter, and if you don’t drink it all in one session, you simply put the remainder in the freezer for another time. I get a feeling Crawley’s gonna need a bigger van. bigcactusmargaritas.com.au