The Brownwood Chamber of Commerce hosted a Margarita Makeoff contest Friday afternoon at the Depot Civic and Cultural Center.  The top three margaritas will be featured for tasting at the Corks & Caps event on October 1st.

Contestants had to be 21 years or older to participate and made a minimum of 16 ounces to compete.

First place went to Chris Perez (pictured above), who is a bartender at the Hideout Golf Club at Lake Brownwood.  Perez created a unique margarita which had a surprise of whiskey and a hint of orange and other ingredients to make the margarita, “smooth like a Texas bonfire night.”

Judging the event were Mike Matthews co-owner of Depot Liquor, Barbie Chapman bartender at Chili’s, and Karon Silvia of Depot Liquor.

Chapman stated that the top four margarita were just points apart, but that Perez’s margarita with the surprise of whiskey was extra smooth and just “stood out.”  Before the presentation, Chapman explained how the margaritas were judged based on a required criteria and personal taste.

“Sometimes too much, like adding too many ingredients is too much but sometimes not adding enough ingredients is not enough,” said Chapman.  “A margarita is literally tequila, lime juice, salt and a little sweet. Originality is awesome but if you went a little too far above that, or too below that, you might have missed the spectrum of an actual margarita.”

The judges stated that they appreciated the variety of drinks made during the contest.

“Appreciating all of the different styles and qualities that are out there and the different presentations of alcohol is a wonderful thing to experience,” said Matthews.

Other contestants were awarded as follows:

2nd Place:  La Bontana

3rd Place:  Cynthia Jones

Honorable Mention:  Jeina Hooker

For more information about the upcoming Corks & Caps event, go to VisitBrownwood.com.