Agree with the 100% agave tequila. The original-recipe margarita is a very low carb drink, not the sugary margarita-mix kind that you get in bars and in bottles at the grocery. These were invented to sell cheap margaritas in bars.

The original margarita is in the "sour" class of drinks, as in "whiskey sour" and goes like this easy ratio - 3-2-1.

3 ounces of 100% agave tequila (Kirkland Añejo at Costco is excellent for this - about 22$)(silver tequila can be used and will give a crisper taste)

2 ounces of Cointreau (but I use Patron Orange Liqueur which has the same proof and complexity but is much cheaper, about half the price. Found at Trader Joes or Total Wine and elsewhere. Some people use triple sec for this, but they are missing out.

1 ounce of fresh-squeezed lime juice.

Salt the rim and serve on the rocks. An even better thing to do is a few shakes of salt into it as you mix it and forget salting the rim.

The whole thing has about 10 grams of carbs which comes from the orange liqeuer. This is enough to last you an entire evening and because of the 100% agave tequila you'll have no after effects or hangover and no sugar burn that evening because of all the sugar they put in tequila mixes. And it's a fun happy drink. You have one of these and you'll never want anything else and you certainly could never drink a store-bought margarita again.

Ed

First of all, alcohol is NOT a carbohydrate. It is a common myth. Neither does it convert into carbohydrates in the body. It converts into acetate and water. However, the body has to shut down all other metabolic pathways in order to immediately burn the acetate from the system, so anything else in your blood consumed with, prior, or after the alchohol gets shunted into bodyfat, hence why people do get fat from alcohol.

Distilled alcohols do not contain carbohydrates. The process of distillation itself basically prevents carbs in the fermentation from carrying over into the final product.

Non-distilled alcohols such as wine and beer of course do contain carbs.

100% agave tequila

Armagnac, great for sauces too, real multitasker. Like cognac. Used a lot of in Gascon, and they are really heart health;) dry white vermouth as well, julias favorite )

I drink Chateau de Seguin - Bordeaux (it's my favorite) or higher grade cabernet sauvignon. But I am a dark dry red wine kind of woman.

Wine is naturally low in carbohydrates as long as you buy a quality wine. And a higher grade red wine also has benefits like being rich in antioxidants.

Note: I am not a heavy drinker, I do not drink to get wasted. I normally drink 2 to 3 glasses at the very most when at the pub or a party. At home I drink one glass with dinner maybe once a month. I don't go to the pub or parties often maybe once or twice every 6 months. So if your aim is to get really drunk really fast wine might not be the best choice.

Pretty much any spirit (booze) is going to be gluten-free, you may get a few molecules of gluten in certain scotches or whiskies, but almost none. The distillation process removes the gluten.

Alcohol itself has carbs (something like 8g per ounce I think) so you can't avoid that. I like bourbon, but any straight booze should do. Generally it is hard to have a lot of booze when drinking it straight unless you're hard core.

Most mixers of course are a disaster from a dietary perspective, juice, soda, "sour mix" (probably loaded with HFCS) etc have tons of sugar.

I'm also attending an all-day outdoor birhtday party next weekend. My choices will will be Patron & Red Wine :) It's supposed to be pretty warm days, I might have to grab a couple of ice cold Coronas, even though beer definately is on the lower end of alcohol choices for paleo eaters.

BTW, does anyone have recipes for amilkshake-type cocktail, that would be paleo? I'm thinkin coconut milk, ice, strawberries/cantaloupe and some liqour and a blender...?

You can't get a carb free alcohol because alcohol IS a carbohydrate. But any distiller spirit SHOULD be gluten free. Personally I stick to 100% agave tequila neat. I used to do whiskey too but it seemed that there was still trace gluten because it would make me sicker than it should. I never have a problem with tequila.

If you don't like tequila (I have to really have a taste for it, which I haven't in a while), which seems to be the big choice here, I like vodka, any kind (see my note above about having celiac disease and no problems with any kind) but it's the way I drink it that saves me from hangovers/etc the next day. In a big glass, I'll put 2 parts vodka, 2 parts 100% juice (no sugar added) of choice, and 6-8 parts water and a twist of lime if it's available. Keeping the sugar low and the hydration high while imbibing lets me have all the fun without the high toll the next day. I won't let other people mix drinks for me at parties anymore because they are always too sweet. If I'm at a bar, I ask for __ (usually gin) and soda, with a splash of something, and it's usually too much. If you can pre-mix up a bunch of the water/juice mix and bring it with you, all the better.