Margaritas have multiple competing origin stories, with several Mexican locales claiming credit during the mid-20th century. The most commonly cited origins point to:
- Tijuana, Mexico (Carlos “Danny” Herrera, Rancho La Gloria): In some accounts, Herrera created a tequila-based cocktail for customers in 1938, and the drink later gained broader popularity as a margarita. This story is among the earliest and is frequently referenced in cocktail histories.
- Ensenada, Baja California (Hussong’s Cantina): Hussong’s Cantina in Ensenada claims the drink was created around 1941, allegedly named after Margarita Henkel Cesena, a patron. This site is widely celebrated as the home of the original margarita in many tellings.
- Juárez, Chihuahua (Francisco “Pancho” Morales): Another tradition places the invention in Juárez in 1942, with Morales crafting a tequila-lime-Cointreau mix that later helped popularize the drink across North America.
- Acapulco, Guerrero (Margarita Sames): A popular tale holds that Dallas socialite Margarita Sames created the drink in 1948 at her Acapulco home for guests, with notable figures like Hotel Hilton helping to popularize it further. This story is frequently cited in mainstream histories.
Notes on evidence and variations:
- The Margarita’s early history is debate-filled, with multiple claimants and varying dates. Some stories emphasize marketing by tequila producers in the 1940s; others highlight individual bartenders who reportedly improvised the mix to accommodate specific patrons.
- The broad consensus among historians is that the cocktail emerged in Mexico in the 1930s–1940s, and the exact birthplace remains a matter of national/cultural pride rather than a single verifiable archive.
If you want, I can pull up more detailed sources for each claim (and note which are more widely supported vs. more contested), or present a side-by-side comparison of the key origin stories with their dates and claimed locations.
