History & Evolution of The Margarita
Origin & Evolution
The origin of a margarita, like every cocktail story, is filled with many holes and many claim the margarita as their own. It may not be anything special at all, as it may just be a variation of a prohibition cocktail known as the daisy, but it could by all means have another origin. In fact, margarita means daisy in Spanish. The only true difference in the daisy and the margarita is that the daisy had brandy, where as a margarita has tequila. David Wondrich said “The basic construction of the Daisy involves firewater—any firewater—lemon juice, and some kind of liquid sweetener, whether alcoholic or no, with the whole mess served on ice in a stemmed glass and decorated like an Easter bonnet,” Many cocktails and favorites are variations of classics and many of those are riffs of a daisy. By the 1930’s the daisy had become ubiquitous in society. We have seen many iterations of it and it evolve over the decades.
Who is to say which came first and which inspired the other? They are the same build with a different spirit, but they all have their own unique legend behind them. In the case of margaritas the majority of spirit enthusiasts believe that the margarita was not created in Mexico at all, but instead with Mexican influences in America. We don’t know if the cocktail started in Mexico or another country, but one this is clear and its that there is no true connection linking the margarita and the daisy as the same cocktail.
During the prohibition, American made spirits were harder to come by than illegally imported booze, such as Canadian whiskey and tequila. Some believe that Americans would mix up different cocktails to make the taste of the tequila palatable to the majority, who were use to more American driven spirits, such as whiskey. Another reason to the belief that the cocktail originated in America is because most locals in Mexico don’t typically drink margaritas themselves. It is much more a tourist driven cocktail and local driven.
However, the history of the margarita remains unknown. Many will argue tooth and nail about its official origin on paper, the cocktail has been around since pre prohibition. The daisy was a way of making a cocktail with any spirit and the same three other ingredients, lemon, orange cordial (Cointreau) and grenadine.
David Wondrich, the cocktail historian and author, says “cocktail history is full of holes because it’s told by drunk people, so just take my word for it,”
We ranked the “legends” of the history of the margarita from most likely to least likely.
In 1938, the first person who claimed to be the cocktails creator was Carlos Herrera, the owner of Rancho La Gloria in Tijuana. In fact, he has it mentioned in his obituary. What inspired the creation of such a wonderful pairing of salty, citrus, and sweet? He was inspired by an annoying customer, a “picky drinking dancer” to be exact. Marjorie King claimed to be allergic to everything other than tequila – yeah, we’ve all heard that before, Karen – and needed something mixed. She said she “didn’t know what she wanted to drink” to the Carlos and through a frustrated pairing of liquids he came up with the margarita. It immediately became a staple at Rancho La Gloria and eventually the city, country and world. Liquor.com actually placed the Margarita as the number one most popular cocktail globally in 2015.
In 1941, bartender Don Carlos Orozco claimed to have come up with the concoction on his own. He named it after a beautiful German ambassador walked in his bar and wanted an original cocktail. Although I’m sure Margarita Hunkel believed this was created for her, I am not easily convinced. The original cocktail predates this supposed creation by 3 years, so it is possible Danny was influenced by other bartenders who knew of Herrera’s recipe.
Although Tequila, Lime, & Cointreau appeared in cocktails together prior to 1948, this was the first time margarita hit the public in print form.
It takes some stones to claim you created something 10 years after its first published form and that’s exactly what Margarita Sames has. In 1948, She claimed that while vacationing in Acapulco with her friends she made the cocktail and named it after herself. They happened to be at the Hiltons visiting Hames good friend, Tommy Hilton, of the Hilton Hotel chain. They adopted the cocktail on the menu, giving her credit. It wasn’t until they realized that Jose Cuervo had a margarita launch already in the works that predated her supposed creation.
Tim Richards, April 2020
Original Recipe, 1948 Cointreau Recipe
2 oz Blanco Tequila
1 oz Cointreau
1 oz Lime Juice
salt rim & lime slice garnish
Mix ingredients together and shake. Double strain liquid into a rimmed salt glass.
Always double strain any cocktail with citrus. When the pulp isn’t properly strained it continues to add flavors and citrus to the cocktail, well passed the desired flavor.