Key West™ Frozen Concoction Maker™

 

From the heart of Margaritaville and in the spirit of Jimmy Buffet, boat drinks, and land sharks everywhere…today’s review is the Key West™ Frozen Concoction Maker™  from Margaritaville Cargo.

I’ve always been a fan of Jimmy Buffet (although I never admitted to it when I was younger!) I even attended a concert once when I was younger. It was fun, a complete good time, and margaritas were had by all. So when I heard there was an opportunity to make margaritas at home with a product licensed by Jimmy himself? You know I jumped at the chance!

What It Comes With

The package I received came with

• 1 Key West™ Frozen Concoction Maker™
• Lime and Salt Tray
• Travel Bag (so you can take the party with you)
• Plastic pitcher (the Concoction Maker™ comes with a heavy glass container)
• Extra large ice holder (the Concoction Maker™ comes with a standard size ice holder that’s fairly large)
• One plastic jug to hold margarita mix (with measurement markings on the side for easy mixing)

My Expectations

I thought this pretty much had to blend margaritas better than the Magic Bullet I had been using prior to the arrival of the unit. The margaritas I’m used to having from home were chunky, lumpy, and icy. They were also practically impossible to drink with a straw.

It would be difficult for this not to live up to my expectation of a halfway decent margarita. I wasn’t expecting restaurant quality, just quality better than I was currently capable of producing at home.

The Result

Wow.

After I got past not being able to find the power cord (it stores in the back of the unit) and made my first margarita, I was officially in love.

With the "shave ice only" and "blend only" settings I figured out shortly after the margaritas I could mix kool aid and ice to a spoon-consistency and convinced the girls it was ice cream (I cleaned the pitcher first, no tequila was harmed in the making of the kiddie concoctions!)

We had a particularly warm morning last week and I blended 2 servings of orange juice with 1 servings’ worth of ice for a slushie-like morning beverage. My husband, Randy, has used it to make Frappuccino-like beverages.

If I haven’t burned out the engine by the end of summer, I will be amazed. There are so many things you can do with this, from milk based, to juice based, oh I even threw half a banana in with some orange juice for the kids and it whirred it all together with ease.

First you put the liquid stuff into the pitcher and put it on the pedestal. Then you choose one, two, or three drinks. Then you hit the magic switch and it starts making the loudest noise on earth. Shaved ice dumps into the liquid in the pitcher for a bit, then the blender portion starts to go. More shaved ice, more blending, and walah.

There are no chunks. If it’s not thick enough you can add more shaved ice, if it’s too icy you can take out the pitcher, add some more liquid, and hit "blend only" until you find your perfect consistency.

Conclusion

This is going to make me an alcoholic. Ok, it’s not, but only because I figured out really fast that you can make really good drinks sans liquor. It’s beyond what I thought a drink maker at home could do.

Not only does the Key West™ Frozen Concoction Maker™  from Margaritaville Cargo produce restaurant-quality margaritas, it actually produces smoother margaritas (and smoothies) than I’ve received in a restaurant in a while.

Plus, knowing I can now throw strawberries and some juice in the bottom and have a tasty, healthy treat for the kids means it’s going to be a great summer and I’m not going to have to constantly wonder if my kids are hydrated. Jimmy Buffett has that covered *laugh*