Like any good origin story, the details are questionable, as are the choices one often makes after consuming margaritas in any quantity. Without knowing the true history, we all accept the fact that a margarita is a Mexican delight that is equal parts refreshing and deadly. The salty rim restores hydration after battling the heat of a tropical beach, while lime juice is refreshing and tequila makes your clothes fall off. That much is factual and can be proven, even if the origins of this ubiquitous tequila beverage cannot.
If we go back far enough… back before any Americans were vacationing in the Yucatan… there was a drink known as the daisy. It was a traditional sour cocktail popularized in Europe in the late 1800s, usually made with two parts hard liquor of your choice, one part orange liqueur, fresh-squeezed citrus juice and perhaps a splash of soda water. The first recorded mention of a daisy being made with tequila, however, dates back to 1936 when Moville, Iowa, newspaperman James Graham visited Tijuana, Mexico, with his wife and stopped in “The Home of the Famous Tequila Daisy.” He described Tijuana at the time as a shadow of its former self, once having 150 bars during its prohibition heyday, but by 1937, only nine establishments remained. In a bar owned by an Irishman by the name of Madden, Graham learned that the tequila daisy was poured by accident when the barkeep grabbed the wrong bottle of liquor. Fortunately, the customer loved it, and word spread. The tequila daisy was forever after intentionally poured in Tijuana and beyond and gained popularity north of the border through the rest of the 1930s.
A drink called a tequila sour was poured at New York City’s famous Cotton Club throughout that same decade as well and was included in “The World Famous Cotton Club: 1939 Book of Mixed Drinks.” For the first time in print, the recipe called for a rim wet with lime juice and coated in salt, and the drink inched ever closer to the margarita we know and love.
Roy Clark, mixologist extraordinaire and general manager of The Haberdasher in downtown Mobile, says that evolution makes sense. “A sidecar, the other notable drink in the sour family, generally has a sugar rim. So, it’s not a big departure. Just swap the sugar for salt.” Salt and lime, says Clark, are a match made in heaven, or at least in the Caribbean.
It’s no coincidence that lime makes an appearance in so many cocktails involving rum or other tropical flavors. In 1747, Scottish naval surgeon James Lind proved that citrus juice could cure scurvy in a matter of days, and before long, the British Royal Navy was carrying around barrels full of lime juice, according to Clark. Sailors would cut it with sugar and water, which was the original navy grog. “Now, that’s known as a tiki cocktail.” He points out that so many of the base cocktails that originated in the Caribbean — the mojito, the daiquiri — begin with lime.
Which brings us to Jimmy Buffett, wasting away in Margaritaville. With the Key West sand under his toes and Cuba almost visible on the horizon, the margarita was a logical drink of choice for the coastal crooner. “When Margaritaville came out, the drink’s popularity just exploded,” says Clark. “That’s one more feather in his cap. He can truly claim that he popularized the margarita in America and maybe worldwide. That really is amazing.” Being responsible for a drink that Clark says the Haberdasher sells “hand over fist” is no small accomplishment. “Who doesn’t like a margarita? I couldn’t pinpoint the type of person that orders a margarita at all. I think it’s a drink for the people, you know?”
Clark also points out that the margarita is a drink customers order in specific ways, second only, he figures, to the martini. Salt, no salt, on the rocks, frozen, up, sweet, dry, mezcal, spicy, skinny. The list goes on and on. Bartenders are happy to accommodate, and the demand seems insatiable. “We have a mild climate,” he explains, “and so wintertime is only winter in theory a lot of years.” Margaritas are good no matter the season around here. It’s just about what you want out of the drink.
Personally, Clark loves a Tommy’s Margarita made with a really nice, high-quality, additive-free tequila. Created by a bartender named Julio Bermejo at Tommy’s restaurant in Los Angeles in 1990, “it lets the tequila really shine.” But he also adds that Mexican-restaurant, bottomless margaritas have their place, too. “Just think about a Mexican restaurant and how many margaritas they sell. It’s highly functional for them to make them that way. If they were juicing all those limes?” He scoffs. “We handpress all our citrus in-house; we start at about 3 o’clock. We have the Cadillac of citrus reamers.” The bar goes through about 200 pounds of limes per week, he figures. So, whether your margarita trends highbrow or high speed, if you can’t be sitting in a beach chair in some sun-drenched Caribbean town, there is a local bar that will happily provide the frozen concoction that helps you hang on.
From the daisy to the tequila sour, and into the future, the first published recipe for a margarita called by name was in a 1953 issue of Esquire Magazine. Since then, many people have claimed to have first invented this thirst-quencher. In the end, says Clark, it’s plausible that more than one person independently came up with what we now call a margarita. All the origin stories can be true — it’s a “yes, and…” kind of thing. “It’s not complicated. It’s part of a family of drinks that already existed. The daisy. The sidecar.” Just swap one thing for another, like the name.
The word for daisy in Spanish? Margarita.
The Haberdasher’s Classic Margarita
The Haberdasher likes to combine traditional, large ice cubes with small pebble ice cubes in their classic margarita for an almost slushy consistency that is cold and refreshing.
Serves 1
Ingredients
2 slices of lime, one for garnish
Salt for rim
1 1/2 ounces 100% Blue Weberagave tequila blanco
1/2 ounce Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
1 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup*
Directions
1. Wet the rim of a rocks glass with a slice of lime and then dip in salt (optional). Set aside.
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and add a handful of ice cubes. Put on the lid and shake vigorously but briefly.
3. Pour the contents, ice and all, into the glass. Top with pebble or nugget ice, and garnish with a lime wedge.
* Simple syrup is just a 1 to 1 ratio of white cane sugar and water, brought to a simmer to dissolve the sugar, and then cooled.
Pearl Snap
SERVES 1
Ingredients
Slice of lime
Smoked sea salt for garnish
1 ounce Montelobos mezcal
1/2 ounce Planteray Stiggin’s Fancy pineapple rum
1/4 ounce Ancho Verde pepper liqueur
3/4 ounce unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
1/4 ounce rich raw sugar syrup*
2 dashes allium tincture (recipe below)
chopped chives for garnish
slices of chili pepper for garnish
Directions
1. Wet the rim of a rocks glass with a slice of lime and then dip in smoked sea salt (optional). Set aside.
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and add a handful of ice cubes. Put on the lid and shake vigorously but briefly.
3. Strain into glass. Garnish with chives and chili pepper.
* Rich raw sugar syrup is just a 2 to 1 ratio of raw sugar and water, brought to a simmer to dissolve the sugar and then cooled.
Allium Tincture
MAKES 1/2 CUP
Ingredients
1/2 cup Everclear
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/4 teaspoons minced shallot
10 stalks chives, chopped
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
Directions
Combine all ingredients together in a lidded, non-reactive container, such as a mason jar. Shake, then let stand for 10 minutes. Strain through a coffee filter. Will keep several months at room temperature.
