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| Amount |
|---|
The ratio is a visible input because it moves the tequila by a third and the limes by double. Every published bottle count assumes one and rarely says which.
Worked example
A complete answer at the calculator's defaults — 24 guests, 4 hours, the 2:1:1 house ratio with a touch of agave, served on the rocks, batched ahead.
Result: 10 bottles of tequila · 120 margaritas at the 2:1:1 house ratio · 60 ml a pour
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Drinks to pour | 120 · 24 guests × (hours + 1) |
| Tequila | 10 × 750 ml · need 9.6 bottles, 300 ml spare |
| Triple sec or Cointreau | 5 × 750 ml · need 4.8, 150 ml spare |
| Lime juice | 3600 ml · 121.7 fl oz |
| Limes | 164 · 144 to juice + 20 for wedges · about 41 lb |
| Agave nectar | 450 ml, cut 1:1 with water |
| Ice | 36 lb |
| Dilution water | 3060 ml · 20% of the batch |
| Batch volume | 18.4 L · 11 two-quart pitchers |
| Finished drink | 153 ml · 5.2 fl oz |
| Salt | One box of kosher salt. It does not scale — rim the outside only |
Change any input above and every figure recalculates.
Every source calls its recipe a classic margarita, and every one means something different
Difford’s house spec and Patrón’s official Perfect Margarita pour 45 ml of tequila. The IBA official recipe pours 50 ml. Cointreau’s own “The Original Margarita”, and PUNCH’s expert-panel winner, pour 60 ml. That is a 33% spread on the most expensive line of the shopping list, and it propagates into the limes as well — IBA calls for 15 ml of lime a drink, the 2:1:1 spec calls for 30. Double.
At 120 drinks that is eight bottles and 72 limes at one spec against ten bottles and 144 limes at another. Neither is wrong. But a guide that says “a bottle makes 15 margaritas” without saying it assumed a 50 ml pour leaves you two bottles short if you actually pour two ounces — which is why the ratio is an input here rather than an assumption.
Drinks = guests × (hours + 1) · bottles = ⌈ drinks × ml per pour ÷ 750 ⌉
On limes. A medium Persian lime holds about 2 tablespoons of juice, but True Citrus notes that hand-squeezing extracts roughly half what a press does. This calculator assumes a deliberately conservative 25 ml of usable juice per lime, so you buy enough. With a press you will have spares. Bottled juice is not a substitute: in VinePair’s blind test ReaLime scored 4.5/10 against fresh lime’s 10.
On batching. Difford’s, Death & Co and our own batching guide all converge on 20% added water to replace the dilution a shaker would have provided — but only if the drink is going into a glass with little or no ice. Note also that Death & Co’s much-quoted freezer-bottle method explicitly excludes margaritas: it “works only with spirituous cocktails”, because fresh juice drops the proof enough to freeze. A margarita is a fridge batch.
How many margaritas does a 750 ml bottle of tequila make?
Between 12 and 17, and the spread is entirely about the pour, not the bottle. At the IBA official spec’s 50 ml pour you get 15. At the 2 oz (60 ml) pour in Cointreau’s own official recipe you get 12.5, and at the 1.5 oz pour used by Difford’s house spec and Patrón’s Perfect Margarita you get 16.7. Use 12 per bottle for the American-style two-ounce margarita most people actually pour at home — the same figure our cocktail calculator uses.
How many limes do I need for 20 margaritas?
About 28 — roughly 7 lb. At the 2:1:1 spec’s 1 oz (30 ml) of lime per drink, twenty margaritas need 600 ml of juice. A medium Persian lime holds about 2 tablespoons, but hand-squeezing typically gets half that, so plan on 25 ml of usable juice per lime: 24 limes to juice plus about 4 more for wedges. Buy 30.
Can I make margaritas the night before?
Yes, if you split the job. Tequila, triple sec and agave syrup are shelf-stable and can be combined days ahead. Fresh lime is what runs the clock: VinePair’s blind tasting scored just-squeezed juice 10/10, four-hour-old juice 8.5, and day-old juice 6.5 as it turns bitter. Squeeze the day of, add the 20% dilution water, and chill. Never leave peel in the batch — the rind turns the whole thing bitter.