Happy International Margarita Day!

Woohoo! 

It's National Margarita Day!

Margaritas are a holiday special. Made with tequila, lime and orange liqueur, and often presented with a salty rim, it's the drink of Mexico and evokes hot weather...and a party. Marvellous stuff!

How did the day come about? As often when I start such tales, I start them with the cautionary warning that it's difficult to know the exact truth and often these drinks have many a claim. In the Margaritas case, one of the earliest claims came in 1938, when a Danny Herrera made the drink in his restaurant. The drink was made for a hit dancer called Marjorie King, for the reason that she was allergic to spirits but not tequila. 

Another story comes from a guy called Francisco Pancho Morales of Mexico who says he created the cocktail in 1942, leaving his bartending job shortly after and moving to the US. 

Another story. A Margarita Sames claims to have mixed the drink in her holiday home for friends. It just so happened that one of the guests was Tommy Hilton himself! Tommy added the cocktail to the menu of famous hotel. The story has some extra weight to it in the form of Jose Cuervo marketing campaign. The campaign ran in 1945 and the catchphase: “Margarita: It’s more than a girl’s name.”

How do you make a Margarita? Simple! Check out this easy recipe.

Start with a good double measure of tequila...if you're feeling like being creative you can absolutely use tequilas fellow agave delight, mezcal.

Add a tablespoon of orange liqueur, triple sec is often use, and slightly more lime juice, around 1.5 tablespoons should do the trick. You can stir or shake it, depending on your mood.

Now to prepare the glass. Pour a little salt into a dish, wet the edge of a martini glass and twist the rim in the salt so it sticks. Strain you drink into the glass, make a cut in a wheel of lime and insert the rim to perch the lime on the side. Or you could float the lime in the drink. You could use a Margarita glass. You could make frozen Margaritas! There is a lot you can do with this amazing drink!