RECIPE:
INGREDIENTS:
  • 60ml Tequila Blanco
  • 15ml Orange Liqueur
  • 30ml Lime Juice, freshly squeezed
  • 15ml Agave Syrup
  • Lime wheel or wedge
  • Kosher Salt 
INSTRUCTIONS:

Sprinkle some salt on the surface of a plate. Run the wedge of lime along the rim of your chosen glass to wet in preparation for the salt, then dip your glass into the salt to cover the entire rim.

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice combine the Tequila, lime juice, Orange Liqueur and Agave Syrup, shake until the outside of the shaker feel cold or “frosts”.

Strain over ice into your salted glass and garnish with either a wedge or wheel of lime.

ABOUT

One of the most popular cocktails in North America with the perfect mix of alcoholic kick from Tequila, sweetness from Orange Liqueur and sour from zesty lime.

A part of the “sour” cocktail family, the Margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, Orange Liqueur and fresh lime juice, often served with salt on the rim of the glass.

The Margarita can be served shaken and poured over ice in a “rocks” glass or blended with ice.

The cocktail is traditionally served in a Margarita glass, a stepped cocktail glass.

a margarita garnished with burnt lime

 

A BRIEF HISTORY

The Margarita is related to the popular Mexican drink “The Daisy”, Margarita translating to Daisy in Spanish. Daisies are a family of cocktails that use a base spirit, a liqueur and citrus, for the Margarita Tequila was used as the chosen spirit instead of Brandy.

There are many claims to the origins of the Margarita with the earliest found in 1936 where newspaper editors James Graham recalls finding a cocktail using its ingredients in a bar in Tijuana.

One of the earliest recorded stories of its origins was in 1938 where the Margarita was reputedly invented by Carlos "Danny" Herrera at his restaurant Rancho La Gloria, created for a customer and former Ziegfield dancer Marjorie King who had an allergy to a range of spirits but not Tequila.

Many experts suggest the strongest claim of its invention being first mixed by Francisco "Pancho" Morales in a bar called Tommys Place in 1942 in Chilhuahua, Mexico, whilst others suggest socialite Margarita Sames concocted the drink for her guests at her vacation home in 1948.

The later claim can be shot down however with the brand Jose Cuervo already producing advertising campaigns in 1945 with the strap line, "Margarita, It's more than a girl's name."

Jose Cuervo themselves claim that the cocktail was invented in 1938 by a bartender in honour of Mexican showgirl Rita de la Rosa

The first known documented recipe for the Margarita was in an edition of Esquire in 1953, which called for an ounce of Tequila a dash of Triple Sec and the juice of half a lime or lemon, although references to recipes for the Tequila Daisy have been found as early as 1936.