🥃 Margarita

The Margarita is the best-known tequila cocktail: tequila, the orange liqueur triple sec and fresh lime juice, shaken with ice and served in a chilled glass, often with a salted rim. The International Bartenders Association (IBA) places it in the Contemporary Classics category. In Spanish the name means daisy, and the drink is the most famous way to serve tequila.

Recipe. The IBA recipe is 50 ml of 100% agave tequila, 20 ml of triple sec and 15 ml of freshly squeezed lime juice. Shake everything with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Salt goes on half the rim, and only if the guest wants it. Triple sec is a dry orange liqueur, a close relative of curaçao, and the best-known brand of this style is Cointreau.

Origin. No one knows for sure who invented the Margarita. Difford's Guide lists more than a dozen versions: a Tequila Daisy from a bar in Tijuana, written about by an American newspaper in 1936; the British Picador in the Café Royal cocktail book of 1937, with the same proportions; and the salt-rimmed Tequila Sour of 1939. Bartenders in Ciudad Juárez, Rosarito and Acapulco are also credited.

How it spread. The name Margarita appears in the American press in 1953, and that December Esquire printed a recipe. From the mid-1950s the distributor Young's Market promoted the drink across the USA together with Cuervo tequila, and it became the main way to drink tequila abroad. A frozen blended version and fruit variants came later.

Why it matters to you. A classic serving holds 50 ml of tequila and 20 ml of liqueur, about 22 g of pure alcohol, and the sour juice and salt hide its strength. "100% agave" on the bottle means the tequila contains no other sugars, but that does not make it lighter. The WHO reminds us: there is no safe level of alcohol.