On the rocks or straight up? With a salt rim or without? However you like your Margarita, there is a twist that is guaranteed to please in this handy companion to mixing with that most legendary of spirits--tequila. From roguish beginnings in Mexico, tequila now graces the most elegant of cocktail bars and is used in a huge array of cocktails, of which the Margarita is king. All you need to create a delicious Classic Margarita is a good-quality tequila, orange-flavored liqueur, and lime. And yet within the boundaries of these 3 basic ingredients you can create an enormous variety of flavors, from Premium margaritas using celebrated rare tequilas, to the fruity Flavoreds such as a Mangorita or Prickly Pear. If you are a tequila aficionado but Margaritas are not your tipple of choice, try the Substitutions--well known cocktails with a tequila twist, such as the Tequilini or Tequila Colada. With 40 vibrant, tasty recipes, Mean Margaritas, by award-winning mixologist and best-selling author Ben Reed, truly celebrates the cocktail that so captures the spirit of fiesta.

• 40 tequila cocktails from an award-winning mixologist and best-selling author.
• Captured in dazzling photography by William Lingwood.