National Margarita Day 2.0
Because a drink so tasty shouldn't be stuck with one day
Yesterday was National Margarita Day, but I don’t think a margarita should be limited to just one day, so I’m making this week’s issue Sunday Sips with a special proclamation of National Margarita Day 2.0.
Margaritas are one of the quintessential cocktails in the world, one almost everyone knows and loves. What is incredible is the true simplicity of how the cocktail should be made.
A basic recipe is:
2 oz blanco tequila
1 oz of an orange liqueur, often triple sec
1 oz lime juice
Sometimes, it can include simple syrup, but that makes it a bit too sweet for me. Of course, they can be served on ice, without ice, or blended.
Interestingly enough, according to the wonderful cocktail historian David Wondrich, the margarita is a relative of the brandy daisy, which is made with brandy rather than tequila. Wondrich found a tequila daisy recipe from 1925 Tijuana. I was actually unaware of the daisy family of cocktails until writing this! (A daisy is a base spirit, a liqueur and citrus.) However, one will find similar recipes for now-famous drinks in the early 1900s.
There is no real solid origin story for the margarita, so that’s a bit of a bummer. It also leaves up the opportunity for brands to make up their stories, like Jose Cuervo, which claims it was made by a bartender in honor of a Mexican showgirl named Rita de La Rosa.
There were some fun stories about margaritas this week, including this one from The Dallas Morning News, which detailed how Mariano’s Hacienda changed the margarita world with a machine. The first frozen margarita machine is now owned by the National Museum of American History!
“That’s where I got the idea; it hit me,” Mariano Martinez, owner of the restaurant, told the Morning News. “I called 7-Eleven to get them to sell me their machine, but they wouldn’t; they said it wouldn’t work because the alcohol would not freeze.”
In Tucson, last year they hosted the 17th Annual World Margarita Championship, which … apparently is only between restaurants in Tucson, that’s worse than US sports leagues calling themselves world championships.
The history of tequila in the US, now the nation’s fastest (and only) growing spirit segment, is better traceable and in a fun way from the amazing Texas Monthly. (Editor’s Note: Texas Monthly is one of the best magazines in the country and its feature stories are insane. Plus they have a taco editor!)
TM said Don Cenobio Sauza shipped three barrels of tequila to El Paso in 1873, the first instance of the spirit in the US. TM, however, oddly puts the creation of the margarita in 1942 by Pancho Morales, a bartender from Juarez, Mexico — they do note it was a competing origin story. (Another origin story is Tijuana’s Carlos Herrera developed the drink in 1938.)
Texas Monthly is also intense in its coverage of tequila and margaritas, which is fun. In 1979, the magazine sent 18 margarita samples to a lab to determine whether restaurants were shortchanging customers.
The publication Punch also ran a very fun interactive article about margaritas.
Anyway, the lack of definitive history for margaritas and many other drinks is fairly frustrating, but also kind of neat! Celebrate National Margarita Day 2.0 now and serve one up.
What’s your favorite margarita recipe? Favorite variant - spicy, prickly pear, mezcal, something cool I don’t even know about?
Neat reads of the week
We’ve talked so much recently about rethinking how the world drinks, particularly around Dry January. Bon Appetit talked to people to learn more!
Hotel bars are the best, and Observer went ahead and detailed the best-designed hotel bars from around the world.
What we’re drinking
During Michigan State basketball’s wonderful win against Michigan Friday, a few Old Styles were drunk, just like when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016.
At Whiskey Friday, a bottle of Elijah Craig Single Barrel was opened up, and it was a delightful sipper.
Last week, Deep Eddy sent over their new pineapple vodka. Mix that with a little tropical sparkling water, like Waterloo’s guava flavor, and it’s out of this world.
Had no idea and drank a marg yesterday!