Margaritaville “Fiji” Frozen Concoction Machine
I inherited a certain affinity for Margaritas from my father, he has always been a fan of tequila. They have a nice pad down on a lake in Florida, the perfect place for sitting pool side on a hot day and enjoying a frozen margarita. For his birthday last year I bought him the [easyazon_link identifier=”B000WHSV3Y” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Margaritaville “Bahama” Frozen Concoction maker[/easyazon_link]. I was so impressed with it, I asked my wife for one and she picked up a Fiji model for us.
What is it? It is a shave ice machine and blender all rolled into one package.
Why is this a thing? The combining of these two features results in a machine that produces frozen drinks that are much closer to a restaurant/bar than you will be able to make with a home blender. Have you ever tried to make a daiquiri at home to discover you have chunks of ice in your drink, they clog your straw and throw off the balance of the drink. I have a Vitamix which is an industry leader in blenders and I still end up with these chunks, I have been unable to replicate the results of the Margaritaville machines.
How does it work? You load ice into the top part of the machine, it slings the ice along a razor blade, literally shaving the ice. You load your mix into the pitcher. You set the machine to a pre-set number of drinks and drink type (on certain machines), then hit start. The shaved ice falls into the pitcher, once the set amount of ice hits the pitcher, the machine automatically activates the blender. It is completely fool proof and yields very consistent results.
Select your # of drinks and drink type
This machine is very well constructed and well thought out. For example, ice is always going to melt, but the Margaritaville machine diverts the ice melt to a separate tank instead of letting it fall into the pitcher diluting your drink. It is this kind of attention to detail and commitment to quality I really appreciate.
My experience: I haven’t had ours for very long, but I continue to be very impressed with it. My father’s machine is limited to enough ice for one pitcher, ours will hold enough for three. His machine doesn’t allow you to select different styles of drinks, ours does. Both of us have had guests that have been impressed by the results of the machine after initially rolling their eyes upon seeing it. During our party the other night, I was able to put out approximately 30 frozen margaritas on demand, that would have been a lot of work with a traditional blender. With this machine it was actually kind of fun!
Other Considerations: These machines are great, but you better like frozen drinks. These machines are pretty larger, while they are nice looking, you might find it is difficult to store them on the counter due to height and footprint. Also, while you can also make smoothies with them, they aren’t going to be a good replacement for a blender. This means at the end of the day you have a pricey, large, specialized piece of equipment.
https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=nb3nZDya9CU
Pros:
Well Constructed
Well thought out design
Produces consistent results
Easy to Clean
Cons:
Water tank for diverted ice melt
Large, difficult to store
Specialized purpose
Expensive
Noisy during use
Conclusion: The Margaritaville Frozen Concoction machine isn’t a perfect machine, but it is perfect for it’s intended use. If you love frozen drinks (who doesn’t right) and/or entertain a lot, you can’t go wrong with this machine!
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