The Best Cocktail: The history of Margaritas
Tangy. Salty. Sweet. And Juicy.
Are we talkin’ love-making or Margaritas?
We choose both.
We can’t imagine living without either...and have found that one can help lead to the other.
So who’s the genius behind the margarita? No one really knows but most stories involve a Sancho, which in Mexico is slang for lover.
So shake up a margarita. Ring a lover. And choose who to thank for the good times awaiting…
Margarita for Margarita
The first story takes us back to 1936 when Danny Negrete, the manager of Hotel Garci Crespo in Tehuacán, Puebla Mexico, created the Margarita for his girlfriend, Margarita. The story goes that Margarita loved salty drinks and so Danny mixed together triple sec, fresh lime juice, salt and tequila blanco over crushed ice and created her a special salty cocktail that he then named after her.
Cocktail Dancer
Carlos Daniel “Danny” Herrera claims to have created this tasty cocktail at his eatery Rancho la Gloria near Tijuana for showgirl and actress Marjorie King. Marjorie was allergic to all forms of alcohol with the exception of tequila so Danny Herrera got to work. He mixed up some tequila with Cointreau, lime and ice, but then he did something that caught everyone’s attention; he served it in a glass with a unique salted rim. He named this new wonderful cocktail the Margarita, the nearest Spanish name to Marjorie.
Ambassador Origins
Some believe that the Margarita was first created by bartender Don Carlos Orozco. The story goes that Don Carlos loved to tinker with drinks, and so when Margarita Henkel, daughter of a German Ambassador, dropped in for a cocktail she was the first to taste his newest concoction and so he named it after her.
House Party
Margarita Sames (a Dallas Socialite) claims to have first created the Margarita at a party she had at her holiday house in Acapulco. She served this new delicious cocktail to her guests and rumour has it that it was loved by Tommy Hilton (of Hilton Hotels) who took it back to the USA with him and introduced it to his family business spreading its popularity.
Mexican Daisy
Many believe the Margarita we know and love was a Mexican evolution of a cocktail known as the Daisy. The Daisy was made from brandy, citrus juice and grenadine and was popular in the 1930s and 40s. When Westerners arrived in Mexico locals made it with tequila and called it a Margarita, the Spanish word for Daisy.
And there you have it, the unknown and unconfirmed origin of the Margarita. All we can say is that whoever the true creator of the Margarita is, you are a legend and cheers to you!
