El Maguey Revisited – Edwardsville, IL

Dos Lunas Reposado on the left, Dos Lunas Silver on the right.

Since I last wrote about the Margaritas at El Maguey in Edwardsville, IL, I’ve revisited there several times. I’ve didn’t write about those visits because I didn’t think there was necessarily anything much different to say. Since that time I’ve expanded my Margarita palette significantly and when my family decided to stop by again, I thought it would be fun to mix it up a little bit.

To be honest, the last couple of times I visited El Maguey, I felt that the quality of their Margarita had slipped just a little bit. Now it may just be me, having tasted some really excellent Margaritas over the past year, but regardless I was looking for something special this time. I just happened to notice a table advertisement for Dos Lunas tequila, which I really liked when I had a chance to buy a bottle several months earlier. So I asked the server if they could make a Margarita with Dos Lunas. They said they could so I ordered one with Dos Lunas reposado and my wife got one with silver Dos Lunas so we could compare.

There wasn’t a whole lot of difference between the two, although I could tell just a slight bit more of a “heavier” flavor to the Margarita with the reposado tequila. I’d need to taste the two tequilas straight to see if there is a significant different between them. Overall I wasn’t as happy with these Margaritas as I’d like. I’d probably give them about a 7.5. I’m really starting to lean towards a distinct fresh lime juice flavor, and I’m getting really particular if I’m served Margaritas that are clearly mix-based. If it is going to be a mix, it needs to be an exceptionally tasty mix. That is the blessing and curse of writing a Margarita blog, I guess!