The Most Perfect Invention, Jimmy Buffet 's Frozen Concoction Margarita Machine

"That frozen concoction that helps me hang on" is how I believe the line in the song goes. I'm sure that all you "parrotheads", or Jimmy Buffett fans out there, who can recite every song by heart, will correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm a bit of a parrothead myself, though I've only been to one Jimmy Buffett concert, I did live something resembling the life that he sings about aboard my own sailboat, living and cruising in the Caribbean islands for several years.

You'd think it would be be easy to get a good margarita in the Caribbean, but sadly, more than often, it is not. Bartenders in resort destinations in the islands have grown used to tourists who are so intent on getting smashed that they don't really care what it is that is in their glass as long as it is sweet and has alcohol in it.

I'll never forget trying to find a good margarita on Isla Margarita, a Caribbean island near Venezuela. After visiting about seven bars over the course of the two weeks we anchored there, we had no luck finding a good margarita on Isla Margarita!

In all the time that my wife and I spent aboard our sailboat wandering the Caribbean, we never really found an island bar that served a decent margarita. Our small sailboat did not have an ice maker, fridge, or enough power to run a blender, but now that we are both back on land, we have found Margaritaville at our local Best Buy store.

Jimmy Buffett is probably not the world's best singer, but he is one heck of a songwriter and his lyrics have captivated a small and extremely dedicated fan base that has stuck with him all these years, until finally major Nashville artists such as Alan Jackson joined with him and helped him to go mainstream. Luckily for us margarita drinkers, he is a smart businessman as well. Apparently Jimmy Buffett has teamed up with a mechanical engineer and together they came up with an industrial quality margarita machine for the home. He calls it the "frozen concoction maker" after the lyrics from his song "Margaritaville". The frozen concoction maker features a high amperage motor and solid look and feel and looks great on my kitchen counter top. We purchased the "Bahamas" model and are extremely pleased with it.

What makes this margarita machine so different is that it actually shaves the ice, just as professional bar margarita machines do, instead of grinding the ice up into sleet like bits.

This shaving process allows the mix and tequila to soak into every little wonderful ice flake, producing a margarita that is unlike any other you have ever made at home.

Of course no machine, not even the frozen concoction maker, can make a perfect margarita without the right ingredients. You need the right tequila. Jimmy Buffett also sells his own brand called Margaritaville Gold Tequila (which is pretty darn good) and mixes to go with it.

How To Use The Jimmy Buffett Frozen Concoction Maker

After we brought the machine home, we were literally drinking margaritas made from it within about fifteen minutes. To use the Jimmy Buffett Bahamas Margaritaville machine, you simply fill the top of the machine with ice to the line that says "ice level", then fill the pitcher with tequila and margarita mix, then hit the center button. At first the top shaving device will come on and fill the pitcher half full of delicately shaven ice. After it is done shaving ice, the blender will then automatically turn on, and mix the two together in perfect harmony. It doesn't get any easier than that, except in Margaritaville. If you have every made margaritas in a blender, even a "bar quality" one, this is about twice as easy and best of all it gives you way more predictable results.

Cleaning is a simple process. Just let the ice that is left over in the machine melt, and it will drip into a removable tray on the back side of the machine. Rinse out the pitcher and lid, and you are done. The base unit, where the grinding of the ice occurs, does not need any additional cleaning except for emptying the ice melt container.

My wife and I have fond memories of the time that we spent living aboard our boat in the islands. You can read a Hub here about life aboard a sailboat: How To Live Aboard A Boat