The life and times of the Margarita

The Daisy Chain

CRACKING THE MYTH OF THE MARGARITA

WHAT IS IT?

This classic cocktail combines tequila, lime juice and Cointreau (triple sec) served in a martini or coupe glass with a salt rim. Served frozen or iced, the Margarita has been loved for decades and continues to be a refreshing bar favourite.

WHY IS IT GOOD?

It offers a little bit of almost every flavour profile – salt, sour, bitter and sweet. It’s Mexican, and it has tequila in it.

WHO INVENTED IT?

Nobody is quite sure. You be the judge.

STORY NUMBER 1:

Carlos ‘Danny’ Herrara with partner, Albert Hernandez created the Margarita at their Rancho La Gloria restaurant in between Tijuana and Rosarita, Mexico in 1938. It is said Herrara made the cocktail for a Zeigfeld dancer, Marjorie King. Marjorie would only drink tequila, so Herrara had the idea to convert the tequila shot (with a lick of salt and the juice of the lime) into a sophisticated cocktail to suit his customer. Hernandez then went on to popularize the Margarita at his La Plaza Restaurant in La Jolla, California from 1947.

STORY NUMBER 2:

An Iowa newspaper editor, James Graham, came across the cocktail in Tijuana in 1936, two years before the Marjorie King story. He wrote that he had found a drink like the American cocktail, The Daisy that replaced brandy with tequila. Margarita is the Spanish word for daisy.

STORY NUMBER 3:

A barman by the name of Don Carlos Orozco created it in 1941. During a slow day at his bar, the Hussong Cantina in Ensenada, Mexico, Don was using his free time to experiment with new drinks. The daughter of a German ambassador walked into Don’s bar, and he gave her one of his new drinks to try. Her name was Margarita Henkel, so he named the drink after her.

STORY NUMBER 4:

Bartender Santa Cruz made the drink for Peggy Margaret Lee in 1948 at his bar the Balinese Room and named the drink after the Spanish version of her name.

STORY NUMBER 5:

Another less likely story is one that points to a prominent Dallas socialite, Margarita Sames, for laying claim to be the namesake of the drink. So the urban legend goes, the Margarita was created at her Acapulco mansion for her friends in 1948. One wellheeled friend in attendance was Tommy Hilton who went on to add the drink to his bar menu at the Hilton hotels exposing the Margarita to a new world of drinkers.

STORY NUMBER 6 DEBUNKING STORY NUMBER 4 AND 5:

Jose Cuervo promoted the line, “Margarita: it’s more than a girl’s name,” for an American advertising campaign the tequila brand ran in 1945, three years before the claim of Santa Cruz and Margarita Sames. Jose Cuervo was the first tequila brand to export to the United States.

LIMITED BY NATURE