Nashville's Tres De Mayo Margarita Festival

This past Saturday was the Tres de Mayo event held in downtown Nashville. I was invited to partake in festivities as well as judge the margarita competition (I know, so rough). As the day progressed the sun just kept getting hotter. Luckily for me and other festival attendees we had our choice of unlimited margaritas and Mexican beer.

I was so happy to see my friend Kellie bartending at the event. Not only can she make a mean drink, she also make adorable neck-ties, wallets and purses at her store Dapper Geek.

There was a booth filled with cute things for dogs, but the cat lady in me was sad that they neglected the other sort of furry friends. I was hoping to get Cooper a tiny sombrero.

These are just some of the beers that were available, though I stuck to the margaritas.

My friend Bekah runs High N Buy vintage and she had a booth set up. She always has a collection of really great pieces (one of my favorite rompers came from her). You can browse her selection at Fond Object.

Overall the vibe was really fun. It's always a good time when you get a lot of people together to drink. In addition to the margaritas, there were 15 women-fronted bands playing on two stages that day. I was REALLY impressed with the talent that I heard. I had no idea there were that many kick-ass lady-bands in town. They did an excellent job on the entertainment selection.

There were a lot of food trucks and all had some form of Mexican food. I had a hard time making a decision but after walking back and forth for 20 minutes I went with tacos from the Confeastador food truck. The shrimp taco was my favorite! The shrimp were really tender and not a tad bit over cooked. The carnitas were solid and had a nice tomatillo salsa.

Then it was time for the margarita judging. I can't remember how many I sampled, but it was a good amount. Drinks were judged on presentation, creativity and taste. Some were downright nasty and reminded me of getting drunk my first week of college. Others tasted exactly like watermelon, lemonade, or mango.

My favorite and the one that got maximum points on all scales was this little rosemary, cucumber and jalapeño number. It was the least sweet and the most refreshing of all the drinks I sampled. You could really taste the cucumber and rosemary but the spice was not overwhelming at all. This was a very well balanced drink. I believe that this margarita came from M. Restaurant. Though I'm not 100% sure and I never found out who won.

While there were some snags, like metro not approving the VIP tent and there being very few shady spots to hide under, it was still a good time. I hope next year there are more shady areas for light-skinned ladies like me, and for the bands. Overall, this was a really fun experience and I hope that this event gets even bigger next year!

** Special thanks to Lauren and the rest of the Hootenanny Events crew. Thank you for letting me be part of this!**