45 Fun Facts About Margarita

In the official bartenders' recipe, how is a margarita mixed before it is strained into the glass?

Shaken with ice, then strained into a chilled cocktail glass: the International Bartenders Association's recipe never mentions the wide-rimmed margarita glass that most bars reach for.

What does the Spanish word 'margarita' mean in English?

Daisy is the meaning, and one theory of the drink's name starts there: the 'daisy' was an older family of American sours, and a tequila daisy asked for in Spanish is a margarita.

What traditionally coats the rim of a margarita glass?

Salt is the classic rim: the earliest printed recipe, from 1953, has the drinker rub the glass with the rind of a lemon or lime and then 'spin in salt'.

Which actor co-founded Casamigos tequila, sold to Diageo in 2017 in a deal worth up to $1 billion?

George Clooney and his friend Rande Gerber first had the tequila made only for themselves and their guests; Casamigos, 'house of friends', went on public sale two years later.

Danny Herrera said he invented the margarita for a showgirl allergic to every other spirit at his restaurant near which border city?

Tijuana was the nearest city to Rancho La Gloria, where Herrera said he built the drink around tequila for Marjorie King and named it Margarita, which he took to be the Spanish for Marjorie.

Which Ensenada bar claims the margarita was created there in 1941 for a customer named Margarita Henkel?

Hussong's Cantina in Ensenada says bartender Don Carlos Orozco mixed the first margarita there in October 1941 and named it for regular Margarita Henkel, reputedly a German ambassador's daughter.

In which Mexican border city did Pancho Morales say he first mixed a margarita on July 4, 1942?

Juárez was home to Tommy's Bar, where Morales said a woman asked for a drink he had never heard of; pretending to know it, he improvised with tequila.

Dallas socialite Margarita Sames said she invented the drink in 1948 at her holiday home in which resort?

Acapulco was where Sames threw lavish house parties; one guest in 1948 is said to have been Tommy Hilton, who took her drink back to the bars of his family's hotels.

Which singer supposedly had the drink named after her by Santos Cruz in Galveston in 1948?

Peggy Lee is the singer in this version: bartender Santos Cruz at Galveston's Balinese Room is said to have named the drink for her in 1948, Margarita being the Spanish form of Margaret, the root of Peggy.

Which magazine published the first known margarita recipe as its 'Drink of the Month' in December 1953?

Esquire's writer called the new arrival from Mexico 'lovely to look at, exciting and provocative', then gave a recipe of tequila, a dash of triple sec and the juice of half a lime or lemon.

Substituting Grand Marnier for triple sec makes which variation?

Cadillac margarita is a name borrowed from the luxury car: it is the premium model, and many bartenders float the Grand Marnier on top of the finished drink rather than mix it in.

Tommy's margarita, an IBA new-era drink, replaces the triple sec with what?

Agave nectar was Julio Bermejo's swap at Tommy's Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco: he felt triple sec drowned out the tequila, so he sweetened the drink with syrup from the same plant.

Mariano Martinez built his 'world's first frozen margarita machine' in 1971 after watching a dispenser in which store chain?

7-Eleven's Slurpee machine showed Martinez he could premix the drink and let bartenders pull a lever; his converted machine is now in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Which Mexican chili-lime seasoning, sold since 1985, is often used on the rim of a margarita glass?

Tajín was created by Horacio Fernández to capture his grandmother's chili sauce in powdered form; he named it after El Tajín, the ancient ruined city he had visited in Veracruz.

Which cousin of the margarita tops tequila with grapefruit soda?

Paloma is a young name among the classics: the drink had to wait for its mixer, and Squirt, its usual grapefruit soda in Mexico, was not invented until 1938, in Arizona.

Swap the tequila for vodka and a margarita becomes which drink?

A kamikaze is equal parts vodka, triple sec and lime juice; add cranberry juice to that mix and it becomes a cosmopolitan.

What is a 'beergarita' or 'Coronarita'?

A Coronarita is a bottle of Corona (or another beer) upended into a large margarita so the beer slowly drains into the drink as it is sipped.

Which citrus are margaritas usually made with in Mexico, rather than Persian limes?

Key limes are small, thin-skinned and tart; despite the Florida name, a 1926 hurricane wiped out that state's commercial groves, and growers replanted with Persian limes.

Whose 1977 song 'Margaritaville' helped make the drink famous?

Jimmy Buffett released 'Margaritaville' in 1977 on the album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes; the song's name later went on a chain of restaurants and resorts.

'Margaritaville', its producer said, grew from its writer's bad day in which Florida island city?

Key West supplied the story, by his producer's account: the singer came into the studio describing a walk home from a bar there, a lost flip-flop and a beer-can top underfoot, already turning it into lyrics.

In 2023, 'Margaritaville' was selected for preservation by which institution?

The Library of Congress added 'Margaritaville' to its National Recording Registry in 2023; the singer died that September, and the 46-year-old song climbed back into the Top 40.

Which British band released the 1983 single 'Marguerita Time'?

Status Quo took it to No. 3 in Britain, yet bassist Alan Lancaster disliked the song so much that he refused to fly back from Australia to appear on Top of the Pops, saying it advertised the band as 'a bunch of nerds'.

Tequila must be made from which variety of agave?

Blue agave is the only variety allowed in tequila, while mezcal may be made from dozens of others, espadín and the wild tobalá among them.

Tequila production is centred in which Mexican state?

Jalisco gave the spirit its name: it is called after the town of Tequila, whose surrounding agave fields and old distilleries became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006.

What is the name for the workers who harvest agave?

Jimadores judge by eye when each plant is ripe, since an agave cut too early spoils the spirit; the skill is traditionally handed down from father to son.

What is the harvested heart of the agave plant called?

The piña is named for the pineapple it resembles once its leaves are cut away; the hearts are then slowly baked to break their complex carbohydrates down into sugars that can ferment.

What is the special knife used to trim the agave leaves called?

A coa is the long-handled tool with a sharp, rounded blade that harvesters use to slice away agave leaves; the tahona, by contrast, is a stone wheel for crushing cooked agave hearts.

What is unaged tequila called?

Blanco, also sold as silver or plata, goes into the bottle unaged; the 'gold' tequila beside it on the shelf is usually the same clear spirit with caramel colouring added, not an older one.

Which tequila label term guarantees at least a year of ageing in oak barrels?

Añejo means at least a year in oak; reposado needs only two months, and a 2006 revision of the rules added a further class above both that must wait three years.

Tequila made with as little as 51% agave sugar goes by what name?

Mixto is a trade word you will not find on a label: any bottle that does not say '100% agave' is one by default.

Which family received the first licence from the Spanish crown to make tequila commercially?

The Cuervo family won its licence from King Carlos IV in 1795, ending years in which the Spanish crown had banned the local spirit to protect imports of Spanish wines and liquors.

The 'worm' many drinkers expect in tequila is really sold in bottles of which other spirit?

Mezcal, and only some of it, comes with a worm, a marketing gimmick rather than a tradition; tequila's own rules forbid putting one in the bottle at all.

Cointreau, a staple of margarita recipes, is produced in which country?

France is home to Cointreau, distilled at Saint-Barthélemy-d'Anjou near Angers; it was first sold not under the family name but as a 'triple sec' curaçao.

Triple sec is flavoured with which fruit?

Orange peel flavours triple sec; the name means 'triple dry', and makers disagree on what was tripled: the distillations, the kinds of peel or the strength of flavour.

Grand Marnier blends bitter-citrus essence with which spirit?

Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge blends cognac with the essence of bitter citrus peel; Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle created it in 1880, and hotelier César Ritz reportedly suggested the name.

Which company bought Patrón tequila in 2018 in a deal valuing it at $5.1 billion?

Bacardi, best known for rum, had held a minority stake in Patrón since 2008 when it agreed in January 2018 to buy the rest.

National Margarita Day, February 22, falls on the birthday of which US president?

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, and was no stranger to spirits: to supplement his income he built a whiskey distillery on his estate at Mount Vernon.

Before distillation reached Mexico, what fermented agave drink had been brewed for thousands of years?

Pulque was sacred in central Mexico before the conquest, kept for priests, nobles and ritual occasions; only under Spanish rule did it become an everyday drink.

Which Real Housewives of New York star bottled her own 'Skinnygirl' margarita in 2009?

Bethenny Frankel left the show the next year to build the brand, then sold her Skinnygirl cocktail line to the drinks group Beam Global while keeping the name for other products.

Per historian David Wondrich, the margarita is an older American drink remade with tequila in place of which spirit?

Brandy was the base of a standard bar drink of the pre-Prohibition era, mixed with liqueur and citrus; reach for the tequila instead, Wondrich argues, and the margarita follows.

The makers of one famous tequila say a bartender created the margarita in 1938 for which Mexican showgirl?

Rita de la Rosa is the showgirl in the brand's own telling, in which a bartender improvised the drink 'to capture her heart'; by 1945 its adverts ran the line 'Margarita: it's more than a girl's name'.

Which rock singer launched Cabo Wabo tequila from his nightclub in Cabo San Lucas?

Sammy Hagar agreed in 2007 to sell an 80% interest in the tequila to Gruppo Campari for $80 million, while his Cabo Wabo Cantina stayed open for his annual birthday shows.

Which sweet, sour and spicy chaser is sipped alongside fine tequila in parts of Mexico?

Sangrita, 'little blood', is a non-alcoholic mix of citrus juice and chilli sipped in turn with the spirit; add a glass of lime juice and the three make a 'bandera', after the Mexican flag.

Who is credited with introducing pot-still distillation to western Mexico in the 16th century?

Filipino sailors arriving on the Manila galleons in the 16th century brought simple stills to the Colima coast to make coconut liquor, and the technique was soon applied to agave.

What kind of legal protection, shared with Champagne, restricts where tequila can be made?

A denomination of origin has guarded the name since Mexico claimed the word in 1974; before that, a distillery could open in Nogales, Arizona, in 1936 and sell its spirit as tequila.