The Margarita is one of the most popular cocktails in the world. Consisting primarily of tequila, lime juice, and triple sec, its origin is shrouded in mystery and lore. According to cocktail historian David Wondrich, the Margarita is related to the Brandy Daisy cocktail, using tequila instead of brandy. Margarita is Spanish for “daisy.” The origins seem to mostly revolve around the areas of Tijuana and Baja California, near the border. There is an account from 1936 of Iowa newspaper editor James Graham finding such a cocktail in Tijuana, years before any of the other Margarita "creation myths." The next possible source comes from Carlos “Danny” Herrera, who is also said to have created the drink at Rancho La Gloria in Baja California for a traveling customer who claimed to be allergic to other spirits but not tequila.
Other origin stories spread as late as 1961, when a partygoer at a Houston social claimed to have invented the concoction while acting as a bartender. This claim is clearly false but illustrates the popularity of the drink during the mid-century. This is just one of many documented claims by imbibers wanting to lay claim to the recipe. Eventually, it became standard to have a rimming of salt on the glass of your Margarita.
By the 1940s, tequila manufacturers were marketing the Margarita in order to sell more tequila, and in 1953, the first write-up on the Margarita was featured in Esquire magazine. Meanwhile, variations of the drink began to sprout up as it gained increasing popularity. The first record of the frozen Margarita was noted by a bartender named Martinez in 1971, who created it using a repurposed soft-serve ice cream dispenser. Some other variations that have become popular include:
- Tommy’s Margarita – Uses agave nectar instead of triple sec. Roughly the same as a Skinny Margarita.
- Texas Margarita – Adds orange juice.
- Skinny Margarita – A low-calorie Margarita.
- Cadillac Margarita – Adds a float of Grand Marnier liqueur.
- Spicy Margarita – Includes a spicy element, usually of green pepper origin.
- Mezcal Margarita – Uses mezcal instead of tequila.
The Margarita has inspired bartenders across the globe for nearly a century to expand upon the simplicity of its original recipe and push the imagination into delicious, complex, sometimes confounding corners. What remains true, though, especially with the recent boom in mass agave popularity, is that the Margarita is one of the most beloved and important cocktails ever created.
This writer prefers Tommy’s Margarita—how do you like yours?