When it comes to my love for boozy drinks, my love for margaritas is unparalleled. I'm honestly a bit appalled that this is my first recipe for one on the blog. I like them tart, strong, on the rocks and with a sugared rim versus a salted rim. That's how I roll. This particular recipe was inspired by a guava margarita I had last spring at the local restaurant Trattoria Fratelli during our crazy Feast of St. Pizza. ( << If you have no idea what that is, you should check it out right now. Preparations for this year's feast are currently in full swing.) When I took my first sip of that one my eyes rolled back into my head, it was that good. I now jump at the opportunity to drink guava-flavored cocktails. This one I'm sharing with you today is my best attempt at creating a homemade version of the one I had last year.

I don't think I've ever had real guava, but I'm totally down with this canned guava nectar stuff I used for the drink. I'm not even sure I could pick guava out of a lineup if I was put to the test, but it's so delicious! I'm obsessed with its complex tart/sweet flavor. Speaking of these cans, I totally love them. The convenience of using canned guava nectar is that you can easily have this delightful margarita YEAR-ROUND. Yep. Keep your pantry stocked with some of these little puppies and then if you have some limes on hand you're a few minutes away from drinking this thing. (I'm assuming you're like me and always have tequila and triple sec on hand.) One can will get you through a handful of these margaritas. If you have any excess just put it into a mason jar in the fridge and it should stay good for a week or so, which means you can drink these all week long.

When Kate from Hola Jalapeño wrote to me about participating in her #MargaritaWeek leading up to Cinco de Mayo, I was so on board. Actually, at first I was super excited and then bummed because I thought I couldn't participate due to other obligations and whatnot, but then realized I had my dates mixed up so I wrote back to her again saying something like "NO WAIT I CAN DO IT YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!" I get excited by margaritas - can you tell?

I also definitely had the thought, "Why didn't I think of that?!" Margaritas are essentially my spirit animal, if we're being totally honest. I'm never not in the mood for one. They're the kind of thing where if I turned one down, Robert would say to me, "Are you feeling okay?" They fall into the same category for me as brownies and chocolate chip cookies. The word "no" is not in my vocabulary when it comes to them. GIVE ME ALL OF THEM. But seriously - all of them. Have you seen what everyone else has been sharing this week? It's nuts! You can find a list of all the other margaritas right here.

Cinco de Mayo is one of those holidays I always forget about, which makes no sense because Mexican food is one of my favorites, and obviously any "excuse" to eat guacamole and drink margaritas is welcome in my books. So I want to say a big thanks to Kate for inspiring me to finally get a margarita recipe up on this site and for reminding me about Cinco de Mayo. I hope you're all celebrating by squeezing some tacos and tequila into this Thursday night. Cheers!

Illustration at top created with Photoshop.
Prints of my illustrations (plus other products with my work on them) are available in my Society6 shop.

Guava Margarita

Makes 1 cocktail

INGREDIENTS

1.5 oz tequila
1 oz triple sec
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice (from about half of a small lime)
2.5 oz guava nectar

INSTRUCTIONS

Fill a cocktail shaker and a drinking glass with ice.
Pour all of your ingredients into the cocktail shaker. Put on the lid and shake for about 30 seconds until the outside feels very cold.
Strain into your drinking glass with ice.
Enjoy! Repeat as necessary.