The Margarita

One of Mexico's most beloved exports is the margarita. In its classic form, tequila, lime juice and Cointreau or Triple Sec, is served in a glass with a salted rim. A perfect combination of sweet, salty, sour and bitter.

As with most popular things, more than one person has claimed to have invented the margarita. One of the most prevalent stories is that Carlos "Danny" Herrera developed the drink at his Tijuana-area restaurant, Rancho La Gloria, around 1938. As the legend goes, Herrera dreamed up the cocktail for one of his customers, an aspiring actress named Marjorie King who was allergic to all hard alcohol other than tequila. To make the liquor more palatable, he combined the elements of a traditional tequila shot, a lick of salt and a wedge of lime, and turned them into a refreshing drink.

Another top contender for the title of Margarita inventor is Margarita Sames, a wealthy Dallas socialite who claimed she whipped up the drink for friends at her Acapulco vacation home in 1948. Among her well-connected guests was Tommy Hilton, who eventually added the drink to the bar menu at his hotel chain.

According to The Complete Book of Spirits by Anthony Dias Blue, though, the first importer of Jose Cuervo in the United States advertised with the tagline, "Margarita: it's more than a girl's name," in 1945, three years before Sames claimed to have invented the drink.

In contrast to the fuzzy genesis of the cocktail, the origin of a machine that helped simplify the making of one of its many forms is well documented. In 2005, Smithsonian's National Museum of American History acquired the world's first frozen margarita machine, invented in 1971 by Dallas restaurateur Mariano Martinez.

Cocktail fads may come and go, but the margarita's popularity has remained steady since its invention, whenever and wherever that was.

Come enjoy a margarita with us as Su Casa Grande!