National Margarita Day

What the day is

National Margarita Day is observed on February 22. The margarita is tequila, lime and an orange liqueur, and almost everything else about it is disputed.

Origin and background

The competing origin stories are numerous and mutually exclusive. Various bartenders and socialites in Mexico and the border states have been credited, with dates ranging across the 1930s and 1940s, and each account has its adherents while none has documentary support strong enough to settle it. The likeliest explanation is duller: the drink is a tequila version of a well-established template, the sour, which combines a spirit, a citrus juice and a sweetener, and the same structure produces the daiquiri and the sidecar. Anybody with tequila and limes could arrive at it independently, and several people probably did.

The ingredient worth being careful about is the tequila. Bottles labeled simply gold or mixto may legally contain up to half non-agave sugars, which is where a great deal of the drink's hangover reputation originates. A bottle stating one hundred percent agave is a different product, and the difference is apparent even under lime.

The salt is doing real work rather than decorating the glass. Salt suppresses the perception of bitterness and enhances sweetness and aroma, which rounds off the sharp edges of a very acidic drink. The traditional method salts only half the rim, so the drinker can choose per sip.

Fresh lime is the other non-negotiable. Bottled lime juice is cooked during pasteurization and loses the volatile aromatics entirely, leaving acidity without fragrance, which is why a margarita made with it tastes flat regardless of how good the tequila was.

How to take part

• Use one hundred percent agave tequila and squeeze the limes yourself.
• Salt half the rim, and rub the lime on the outside only so salt does not fall in.
• Shake hard with plenty of ice, which dilutes it correctly as well as chilling it.
• Skip the pre-mixed sour mix entirely.
• Drink responsibly, and keep a jug of water alongside.