Reading through classic cocktail books you won’t find that many tequila-based concoctions but this is a classic, the Margarita. The Margarita is basically a tequila-based Daisy, a type of cocktail made with spirit + usually orange liqueur + lemon or lime juice. As it happens the Spanish word for Daisy is Margarita. The first mention of the Tequila Daisy was in 1936 when the editor of the Moville Mail told the story of trying the drink in a saloon in Tijuana where it was first made by mistake when the barman reached for the wrong bottle when making a Daisy.

A fun fact is that cocktail with the exact proportions of a Margarita but with the name Picador was included in the British Café Royal Cocktail Book by William J. Tarling in 1937 meaning the famed cocktail might actually be a British invention.

The first time the cocktail was seen in print and called Margarita was not until 1953 when it was published in Esquire magazine.

Their are lots of other claims to the origins of the Margarita. For example that it was first concocted by Carlos (Danny) Herrera in 1938 at his Rancho La Gloria bar in Rosarito, Mexico for a showgirl called Marjorie King. King was allergic to all alcohol except tequila, but didn’t like to drink the stuff straight.

Or that it was named for actress Rita Hayworth, who was offered one by an admiring bartender during a theater job in Tijuana in the 1940s. (Hayworth’s real name was Margarita Cansino.)

Whatever the origin though, this is one amazing cocktail.

The glass called Sultan was designed by Nanny Still in 1966.

Margarita

2 parts Tequila

1 part Cointreau

1 part lime juice

Rub the rim of the glass with lime and dip it in salt. Shake ingredients with ice. Strain into glass and garnish with a lime wedge.