Here's What Happens When Adults Try To Guess The Ingredients For A Margarita

It's not as easy as one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed & Creative Commons / Via Flickr: my_world_perspective

In honor of summer, Cinco de Mayo, and our love of guacamole, some brave BuzzFeed writers decided to set the bar high with a margarita challenge. Margaritas, as we all know, are the nectar of the gods, and just taste really fucking good with chips.

But what is IN a margarita, exactly? Some lime? Salt? Magic? It's all unclear, especially after you've had a pitcher of the stuff. So we decided to find out if it's possible to make a margarita that tastes good without using any specific recipe. Here's what happened...

THE RULES:

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Our five contestants were given individual stations to make their drinks, and they each had 10 minutes to create the ultimate margarita. They could only use the ingredients we provided, some of which could be found in traditional margaritas, and others that were meant to throw the challengers off. These are those ingredients:

•Tequila

•Triple Sec

•Bacardi Gold Rum

•Corona

•Salt

•Blue Corn Tortilla Chips

•Habanero Sauce

•Fresh Lime

•Fresh Lemon

•Grapefruit

•Navel Oranges

•Mango Juice

•Orange juice

•Pineapple Juice

•Low Calorie Lemonade (bikini season is looming, OK?)

•Sour Patch Kids

•Sour Punch Straws

•Ice

Once the 10 minute timer started, our contestants scrambled to choose just the right fixings for their signature drinks.

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Some of the things we overheard included, "Chips? What the fuck?" and "WE NEED MORE ICE!!!"

Contestant A, aka Triple Sec-sy/Sexy Stryker, judged his creation by taste-testing multiple times throughout those 10 minutes.

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

"This wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be, especially when you consider I thought I knew the ingredients beforehand," Triple Sec-sy/Sexy Stryker said. "I won't be quitting my day job at the internet website BuzzFeed dot com any time soon, that's for damn sure. At the end of the day, I can walk away knowing that I tried my hardest and also looked ***FLAWLESS while making my marg. Isn't that what really matters?"

Contestant A kept his marg classy with the following ingredients:

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

•Tequila

•Corona

•Sugar

•Salt

•A blue corn tortilla chip rim

•Lime

•Lemonade

•Grapefruit

•Triple Sec

Contestant B, code name "Salt Rim Ari," started off her marg adventure with a lot of tequila, a salted rim, and hand squeezing fresh lime and grapefruit.

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"I wish I had failed more spectacularly," Salt Rim Ari admitted. "Also, made a larger sample margarita for myself."

Contestant B made her margarita with...

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

•Lemonade

•Tequila

•Lime juice

•Grapefruit juice

•Triple Sec

Contestant C, marg nickname "Lara, Mother of Dragons, Maker of Luscious Lime Drinks," took a moment to consider whether or not to proceed with the Sour Punch Straw. In the end, she did.

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

"If I had to do this again, I would go to a bar on Friday night instead of watching Netflix in order to figure out what goes into a margarita," she admitted. "Hint: it's not Sour Patch Kids."

For Contestant C's margarita, she used...

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•Tequila

•Mango

•Lemonade

•Ice

•Sour Straw

•Salt

•Lime

•Lemon

•Grapefruit

Similar to Contestant C, Contestant D (aka "Margaritas are overrated...whatever") continued the trend of using sour gummy candies to enhance his margarita masterwork.

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"If all else fails, just drink straight from the bottle," said Contestant D.

Contestant D's ultimate margarita ingredients:

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•Mango juice

•Fresh Lime

•Tequila

•Sour straw

•Salt

•Sour Patch Kids

•Orange juice

Last but not least was Contestant E, (aka "The Girl Who Made One of These Margaritas") who as you can see, was all about those fresh squeezed limes.

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

"If I had to do this again...I would just drink my margarita and not care that I probably lost," she said.

Contestant E used the following to concoct her ultimate marg:

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

•Lime juice

•Tequila

•Triple Sec

•A bit of fresh OJ

•Dash of pineapple juice

•1 Sour Patch Kid

When time was called it was HANDS UP, MARGARITAS DOWN.

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

Some of the contestants had finished, while others were still in the midst of mixing. But life isn't fair, and 10 minutes is a fickle beast.

All of the margaritas were finished and lined up...

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Finally ready for judgment.

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The ruling for Contestant A:

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

Comments from the judges:

•“It tastes like nothing, or mild flavored water.”

•“It’s a little watery. Also, why are there things floating in it? (Chips?)”

•“Watery. And I question the rim.”

•“Watered down margarita.”

•“Juice with ice.”

•“Don’t think I could drink enough of these to get drunk.”

Final Score (out of a possible 50 points): 21

Final ruling for Contestant B:

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

Comments from the judges:

•“Lemon water.”

•“Very traditional margarita.”

•“Pretty good. Would knock back a few with some chips and salsa.”

•“Water. I like the salted rim, but this had no flavor, and seemed like it had no alcohol.”

•“A little sweet, but yummy. Salt adds a nice touch and balances the sweet.”

Final Score (out of a possible 50 points): 28.5

Ruling for Contestant C:

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Comments from the judges:

•“Orange and candy – salt makes it better, otherwise it’s just candy water.”

•“Mango and pineapple.”

•“Pineapple juice. Could have been a bit lighter with the juice.”

•“Pineapple? Or mango? No. Also, there shouldn’t be salt."

•“Woah. I’m already wasted.”

Final Score (out of a possible 50 points): 26

Final ruling for Contestant D:

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

Comments from the judges:

•“Tangy!”

•“Mango. I like this one! The Twizzler is a fun touch.”

•“Wouldn’t drink more than one of these. Sorry.”

•“My dark horse favorite so far! I will admit, I didn’t like the look of you.”

•“UGH.”

Final Score (out of a possible 50 points): 25

Final ruling for Contestant E:

Justin Abarca for BuzzFeed

Comments from the judges:

•“Tangy lemonade.”

•“Too alcoholic.”

•“A little too tart, but refreshing. Could sneak up on me with some time.”

•“Lime. I like this one as a good standard marg.”

•“Lime water.”

Final Score (out of a possible 50 points): 25

THE WINNER of the ultimate margarita challenge is Contestant B, "Salt Rim Ari!"

In conclusion: keep your margaritas simple and it will be simply (or at least mildly) delicious. Happy marg parties, everyone!