The Margarita: a Mexican(?) Classic

The Margarita has been a classic of Mexico holidays since the late 1930s, when tequila was at least as obscure as soju is today.

A classic blend of grassy tequila with sour lime, sweet orange liqueur and a salt rim, the Margarita works brilliantly frozen, straight-up or on the rocks.

It is, in fact, when made correctly with good ingredients, at least as great a drink as the Martini (or even the Negroni). For best results, you’ll want to use an artisan tequila, made from 100% blue agave, rather than the mass-market versions that only contain 50% of the good stuff.

Premixes? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Fruit Margaritas? Really, if you need a frozen fruit cocktail, go with a fruit daiquiri. They’re much nicer.

The true Margarita is a thing of beauty. But its origins are a mystery – right down to the question of whether it’s Mexican or Tex-Mex.

The Margarita wasn’t the first sweet and sour tequila cocktail. There were a number of lime and tequila mixes around in the 1930s, including the Picador and the Tequila Daisy. But neither of these had the salt rim that has made the Margarita the drink it is today.

That said, there is no shortage of explanations for who created the Margarita.

First up? The socialite Margaret Sames, who claimed she created it during a pool party at her Acapulco home in 1948, adding the salt rim because people liked a lick of salt with their tequila.

Danny Negrete, a bartender at the Garci Crespo hotel in Tehuacan, Mexico, claimed to have invented the drink in 1936 as a wedding present for his future sister-in-law, Margarita. Pancho Morales? He created it in Juarez, on 4th July 1942.

Carlos “Danny” Herrera, meanwhile, created the drink at Rancho La Gloria, outside Tijuana, for a showgirl called Marjorie King, who was “allergic to hard liquor, except for tequila”, at some point in the 1940s.

Other candidates? Johnny Durlesser, Red Hinton and an anonymous Los Angeles bartender whose creation was then picked up by marketers for Cuervo tequila, as the brand expanded into the US.

One person who CAN safely be credited with the creation of a Margarita?

Julio Bermejo, of Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, substituted agave nectar, a syrup made from the heart of the agave plant that also goes to make tequila, for the cointreau: the Tommy’s Margarita is now a standby at many of the best bars worlwide.

This is a sponsored post, brought to you by Travelbag.
Picture credit: Margarita at Fred’s by Ralph Daily.