The History of The Margarita Cocktail

It's always good to have a nice story to tell with your cocktail and the history of the Margarita, like many cocktails, is widely disputed and many lay claim to its invention.
In this episode I take you through a few of the more believable yarns and introduce you to some of the Margaritas close cousins or perhaps even ancestors.

[@bomega2818]

The birthplace of the margarita is in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México! It is also the birthplace of the burrito, really cool video 🇲🇽 🇲🇽 🇲🇽

[@BehindtheBar]

What great claims to have!!

[@l4stm4nttv14]

That's racist! and wrong.

[@MoNaBookworm]

I love your channel above ohs because I love the history and explanations. You teach the way I love to learn and you have introduced me to the wonderful world of vermouth and sherry 😋 Thank you 😊

[@BehindtheBar]

That’s so good to hear Morgan, thank you and glad you’re enjoying!

[@seanthemaverick]

Would love to hear the Cuba Libre story!

[@egosumhomovespertilionem]

Cocktail historian David Wondrich has documented one claimant, an Irish bartender and owner of a bar in Tijuana, as one of the earliest credible "inventors" of the Margarita. The bartender's name was Madden and this story first appeared in a 1936 article in an Iowa newspaper, making it one of the earliest claims, if not the earliest published claim to have invented the "Margarita." This predates several other Mexican or Texas claimants by five to ten years -- and those other origin stories often involved a woman named Margarita, Rita, Margaret or Peggy. However, given the history of the Daisy as a gin, brandy or whiskey based drink, dating back to at least the 1870s, it is just as likely that the drink evolved in multiple places -- given its copycat formula of spirit, liqueur (typically, orange or citrus flavored), and fresh lemon or lime juice -- and simply used the literal Spanish translation of the name already in wide use for the entire class of drinks using this formula. What is certain is that anyone claiming to have invented the "Margarita" in the late 1930s or 1940s was lying, or perhaps more generously, was simply unaware that other bartenders had already used a widespread cocktail formula for a new-ish tequila-based drink.

[@little_billy]

Love story time!!!

[@matthewwood3204]

Great video! I've been a fan of your videos for over a year now, but keep forgetting to comment and like them as I'm usually watching them from my TV. Anyway, I'm making an effort now to make sure and go back and like several of my favorite videos you've done. I think your channel is amazing! I especially like the History of Cocktail videos. Well done!

[@BehindtheBar]

Really appreciate you making the effort to comment Matthew and so glad you enjoy them!

[@PiratesAreRad]

Phenomenal ❤️

[@BehindtheBar]

Thanks pal!

[@emmanuelwood8702]

Margarita means daisy in almost all romance languages

[@egosumhomovespertilionem]

With spelling variations. For example, the word is marguerite in French, which is the French name for the English daisy or ox-eye daisy that is relatively common throughout temperate areas of Europe. So the 1870s cocktail name "Daisy" may have passed through several translations from English to French to Spanish, or from English to Spanish to French, etc., before the tequila-orange liqueur-lime juice version became known as the "Margarita."

[@shannonbilger5301]

I am crushed. I watch every video just to hear "So now you know". I guess now I don't know. 🥺

[@isorna2456]

What about frozen margarita? Can you please show us how to do that as well?

[@BehindtheBar]

I think we’ll have to do a whole blended episode at some point!

[@emmanuelwood8702]

Either way you put it comes the flower as the name margarita comes from the name of the flower .

[@neilcarroll2054]

Try Galveston Texas at the Balanise club

[@egosumhomovespertilionem]

This 1948 claimant is 10 to 12 years too late to have been the first. There are already multiple published instances of a tequila-based "Margarita" by the early 1940s.

[@Len_M.]

Tor-a-door... Are you a 79 baby? You mentioned when you were 17 and that is when I was 17. It was kinda handy all my Ages lining up with the end number of the Year (most of it anyway, born in Dec.)

[@BehindtheBar]

89!

[@bartendersantosh631]

I just watching u because u r looking so beautiful 😍😁

[@ghanshyam93gv]

1936 is the mostly correct year not 1938

[@BehindtheBar]

Do you have a link for that? My research said 1938 but definitely happy to be proved wrong!

[@ghanshyam93gv]

@@BehindtheBar liquor.com/articles/history-of-tequila/

[@ghanshyam93gv]

@@BehindtheBar I did plenty site visits but seems majority claiming 1936

[@BehindtheBar]

Thanks for that! I’ll have to have a look at my research, maybe it’s just a typo 🙈. Delicious drink either way haha

[@ghanshyam93gv]

@@BehindtheBar haha yes typo I understand anyways have a great day ahead

[@4425evergreen]

Such a cynical view

[@BehindtheBar]

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