Cocktail · Medium strength
Margarita
Tequila, lime, and orange liqueur in perfect tension. Sunshine, weaponized.
How to order it: Blanco tequila, fresh lime, Cointreau. Salt rim optional but correct.
Flavor profile
The recipe
- 2 oz blanco tequila
- 1 oz lime juice
- ¾ oz Cointreau
- Shake; strain over ice
- Optional salt rim, lime wheel
The story
No cocktail has more parents claiming custody. Was it Carlos 'Danny' Herrera mixing for a tequila-only actress near Tijuana in the late 1930s? Dallas socialite Margarita Sames at her Acapulco house party in 1948? Or — the historians' favorite — no one at all, since 'margarita' is Spanish for daisy, and the tequila daisy (spirit, citrus, orange liqueur) was documented along the border by the 1930s. The truth is likely evolutionary rather than eureka. What's certain is the result: tequila, lime, and orange liqueur in a salt-rimmed standoff that became America's most-ordered cocktail. The Margarita endures because it never resolves — sweet, sour, salt, and fire, arguing forever.
Modern variations
The Margarita cast a long shadow. These pours carry the torch:
Mezcal Margarita
Cocktail
The margarita after it discovered vinyl records and campfires.
Spicy Margarita
Cocktail
The margarita with jalapeño heat — sunshine, now with consequences.
Adjacent pours