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A magnificent thing happened on Friday afternoon. A free bottle of 1800 Silver Tequila arrived at my doorstep! This wasn’t a totally random event though. I had received an email from a firm representing 1800 Tequila announcing that the company would be releasing a limited edition series of bottles designed by various artists (read the full press release here), and in an effort to promote this event, they wanted to send me a free bottle. How could I resist?
Well, when I think of tequila, I think of two people: my friend Paul (who in 2000, chugged a cup of Jose Cuervo and then ran around my backyard with the bottle, screaming “I’m the tequila fairy!” for about thirty minutes), and my friend Sly, who has yet to proclaim herself as any sort of tequila sprite or nymph but enjoys the stuff nonetheless. Unfortunately, Paul lives in Portland; so he was unable to enjoy the tequila with me, but I still had Sly, and thus, I invited her down to sample the wares . Our boozy adventures after the jump…

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Friday afternoon. FedEx arrives at my door. What could it be?

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Why, it’s a free bottle of 1800 Silver Tequila in Limited Edition packaging! I gotta admit that initially the idea of an “artsy” tequila bottle wasn’t much of a selling point for me, but seeing it in person, the bottle was actually quite lovely. Beautiful, even.

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Another angle of the bottle.

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Info about the artist, Danielle Salinas.

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Soon this handsome bottle lands a prime spot on my liquor shelf (right over Nancy Grace’s head, natch).

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A few hours later, Sly arrives, eager to imbibe some tequila. We first consult the 1800 Tequila website, hoping to find some interesting recipes for the tequila. Ultimately, we jot down three drinks, two of which are margaritas. The night is full of promise.

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The dramatic chicken scratch that is Sly’s handwriting.

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Sly clutches the tequila as if it were her firstborn (which it may be).

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Such a classy bottle deserves a classy presentation. As such, Sly and I pose the tequila next to a bowl of assorted citrus as well as a can of mango nectar, all under a lovely vase of flowers. What purpose did this serve? That remains unclear.

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In keeping with the Southwest theme of tequila and margaritas, Sly and I dust off the ol’ cactus shot glass for easy measuring (and necessary kitsch).

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Sly gets to work reaming limes. She’s so excited that she tells me, “I should have brought my reamer down too! Then we could have had dual reaming action.” She then laughs and rolls her eyes, knowing that I’ve instantly committed the line to memory for later use on the blog.

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Meanwhile, some homemade pizza awaits our eventual munchies.

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With Sly on lime duty, I head to the balcony to wipe the dust off the chairs. Sly immediately springs into action with the camera as the sight of me performing manual labor is apparently as rare as the yeti.

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Fun times with my lil’ blue bucket.

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It’s crystal clear out, thus allowing us to see for miles from the balcony. Unfortunately, this picture does not do the view justice (the blame falls squarely on Sly, the photographer).

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Anticipation builds for the tequila.

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Limes are reamed. Time to mix.

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The ceremonial unsheathing of the cork.

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Sly is so excited it’s a miracle she’s able to keep her hands steady enough to take the picture.

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Let the party begin!

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Sly sniffs the tequila. This results in contented moaning.

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With the cactus as our measure, Sly prepares the drinks, which require two parts tequila.

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Straight tequila.

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Next is one part lime juice and one part triple sec. There’s mild suspense as we fear all the components might not fit in the short tumblers.

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Luckily, everything works out just perfectly. Here’s Sly mixing the cocktails.

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Utter happiness (trust me on this).

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Anticipation continues to build.

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We take the party outside to drink margaritas over Los Angeles. Long story short: they’re delicious.

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Don’t let the face confuse you. I’m actually quite happy.

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Sly expands her ongoing oeuvre of feet photos.

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Despite previous assertions that she was simply too full to consume any food (we enjoyed some spicy butternut squash soup prior to the drinking), Sly now goes for the pizza.

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Time for round 2. To switch things up, we opt for 1800 Tequila’s mango margarita. Plus we decide to blend this batch. We’ll need four cacti of tequila, two of mango nectar, and 1.5 each of lime juice, fresh squeezed orange juice, and triple sec.

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Sly takes a shot of the tequila resting in the blender. Everything seems fine at the moment…

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Preparing the mango nectar (a.k.a. opening the can).

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Using a funnel to harness our orange juice into the cactus.

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At last the mango margaritas are ready to go.

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Intense blending action.

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Pouring the first batch. You’ll notice my hand hovering under the base of the blender. That’s because a major disaster befell this operation…

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THE BLENDER HAD LEAKED (or perhaps I had not screwed the blender attachment on tightly enough). Nevertheless, we’re left with a sticky catastrophe. A BLENDSASTER!

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Luckily we still have pizza (with prosciutto) to comfort us. Oh, and tequila.

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The mango margaritas turn out nicely, but they’re not as mango-y as we are expecting. Plus, since we finished the first bottle of triple sec with the regular margaritas, we had to move onto a second bottle (a different brand) for this batch, and the liqueur simply did not taste terribly good. It added an almost nutty flavor to the proceedings. Very odd. However, the drinks remain palatable and tasty, and we’re loathe to reject any booze; so we continue on happily.

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As is wont to happen, the margaritas lead to crafting. Here’s Sly helping me glue together my Zack Morris phone for Halloween.

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Again, we return to the pizza, but since there’s none left, Sly is relegated to picking a random scrap out of the pizza cutter.

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Note the raised pinky. How very foppish.

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Another moan of ecstasy as Sly enjoys her Lady Pizza.

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Soon the inevitable feats of strength exhibition. Note Sly’s reluctance to put down her margarita.

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Pain flashes across Sly’s furrowed brow as she seems unable to lift my cast iron skillet.

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Further attempts prove to be rather fruitless.

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Of course, I’m a MAN, and thus I am able to lift my skillet with ease.

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ARGGH!!!

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Sly finds more success in later attempts.

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But she continues to be struck down by her own weakness.

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Wait, wait… she’s doing it! She’s doing it!

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Success!!!

Well, half a bottle of tequila later, Sly and I called it a night. We never got around to the third drink because it was already fairly late. Nevertheless, I think it’s clear that we most certainly enjoyed the liquor. I had actually never had 1800 Tequila, and honestly, it was delicious (and I’m not just saying that because it was free). We were both big, big fans. Thanks to the good people at 1800 Tequila for the marvelous libations. As you can see, they certainly provided us with an enjoyable evening. Oh, and any other purveyor of wine and spirits who wants to send some free wares our way, we’ll be more than happy to accommodate you!

15 replies on “ADVENTURES IN TEQUILA: Margaritas, Crafting, and Feats of Strength Edition”

  1. Is it bad that I keep reading 1800 Tequila as 1-800-Tequila? Or maybe I’m just jealous that you get such cool shipments. Mine are usually limited to golf clubs that the hubby gets off of eBay.

  2. When I was a tequila queen (about 20 years ago) 1800 was my fave. I’m not sure what I covet more, that beautiful bottle of sweet libation or Sly’s shoes!

  3. I think Sly should have her shirt off in her photos. We can’t see her face anyhow, so what’s the difference?

  4. Per the shot of your liquor shelf: as an alumnus of a Southern school, the only Sweet Tea Vodka of merit is Firefly brand.
    Anyway that tequila looked awesome, and it was a neat design, the blue ogre-y thing, not sure what it has to do with tequila though. I wish I got those types of deliveries…

  5. well yes. you are a man, plus have a bigger brain.
    both these combine to success in the feats of strength.
    plus, and most fortunately for you, i’m guessing sly was hammered.

  6. Note to Sly – If you are ever in Puerto Vallarta, take the little boat trip to Jelapa (Jay-lapa). The smoked tequila that is made there is most amazing & not found anywhere else. I’m sorry that I don’t remember the name of it – but Jelapa is a small place, so it should be easy to find (& tour guide should know all about it).

  7. I also noticed your Amazing Race clue! Are you going to be handing out clues after a Detour or something?
    Since you had that sponge in your hand during the mini “manual labour” stint, you could have paid a little attention to your keyboard 🙂
    And, lastly…you are very skilled in cropping Sly’s blurry face to show her profile. Love it!

  8. Sherri: I agree about the tasty tequila in Jelapa. But a warning my friends: any more than two shots could bring on hallucinations. I was sure the Puerto Vallarta police were banging down my hotel room door at 2:00 a.m., and I only had ONE shot. That might suggest I’m a tequila rookie, but I blame Jelapa! Great post, B-Side.

  9. Seeing Sly stuggle with the cast iron pan reminds me of how the Poker players had such trouble with ringing the bell.
    I need to get some tequila!

  10. “Is it bad that I keep reading 1800 Tequila as 1-800-Tequila?”
    Chick – everytime I see 1800 (at least 1x per wk when ordering for work) I think of Matthew McConaughey bringing a bottle to drink on a talk show. Was it Ellen???
    “Per the shot of your liquor shelf: as an alumnus of a Southern school, the only Sweet Tea Vodka of merit is Firefly brand.”
    Frank – agreed. Firefly is the best, does it make its way all the way out to California though? (Distilled in SC)
    “Since you had that sponge in your hand during the mini “manual labour” stint, you could have paid a little attention to your keyboard :)”
    B-Case – I too thought of the keyboard cleaning post. Plus my OCD kicks into gear at the pile of shoes at the door.

  11. Firefly has made it out to LA, and it is very good (and superior to Seagrams). However, Seagrams is about $9 or $10 cheaper, and quite honestly, when mixed with lemonade (which is how i like my sweet tea vodka), it all tastes the same (or negligible) to me.
    Frugality wins!

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