How Many Margaritas Are in a 1.75 Litre Bottle?

A 1.75 litre bottle of tequila makes 39 margaritas at the standard 1.5 oz pour, or 29 if you pour a heavy 2 oz. A 750ml bottle makes 16 and 12. The arithmetic is simply 1750ml = 59.2 fl oz, divided by the pour.

That is the whole answer. The rest of this page is what it costs, and why the big bottle is almost always the right buy when more than four people are drinking.

Margaritas per bottle

Bartenders build a margarita on a 2:1:1 ratio — two parts tequila, one part orange liqueur, one part fresh lime. Only the tequila count matters for how far the bottle goes, because the lime and the liqueur are cheap and you will buy those separately anyway.

What that works out to per drink

A margarita in an Atlanta bar runs twelve to sixteen dollars. Every bottle in that table puts the same drink on your own counter for well under two.

The mistake people make

Buying two 750ml bottles instead of one 1.75 litre. Two 750s give you 32 margaritas; the single big bottle gives you 39, and it is almost always cheaper than the pair. If you are pouring for a group, the only reason to buy 750ml is that you want a tequila we do not stock in the larger size.

Frozen margaritas are a different sum

Blended margaritas need more tequila, not less. The ice dilutes as it blends, so the standard build is closer to 2.5 oz of tequila per drink to taste like anything at all. That takes a 1.75 litre bottle down to about 23 drinks, and a 750ml to ten. If you are running a blender at a party, buy roughly half as much again as this page suggests.

What else you need to match the bottle

A 2:1:1 margarita uses half an ounce of orange liqueur and half an ounce of lime for every ounce of tequila. To use up a full 1.75 litre bottle of tequila you therefore need about 30 oz of orange liqueur — a 750ml bottle is 25 oz, so one bottle very nearly matches it — and 30 oz of lime juice, which is roughly 30 limes.

Most people badly underbuy limes. A supermarket lime yields about an ounce of juice, less if it has been in a cold display for a week. Buy thirty for a full bottle and roll each one firmly under your palm before cutting it, which breaks the pulp and gets noticeably more juice out.

Planning by guest count

Three drinks a head is the planning figure caterers use for an evening event. It runs high for a lunch and low for a wedding, but it is the right number to buy against.

How long an opened bottle lasts

Tequila is about 40% alcohol, so an opened bottle does not spoil the way wine does. Kept upright with the cap on, it holds its character for a year or more. What actually degrades is a bottle left with only an inch in the bottom, where the large volume of air slowly dulls it. If you are down to the last measure, use it rather than saving it.