Margarita

Adding a salt rim to only half the glass will give the drinker the option to have salt while they are sipping if they wish.

To make the salt rim, first place some salt on a flat plate. Take a wedge of lime and rub it along the outer side of the glass. Take the glass and roll it on the salt.

Curaçao or Grand Marnier will provide a drier and potentially woody character to your Margaritas. Triple sec or Cointreau will provide more sweetness. Consider the tequila you are using when deciding which liqueur you pair it with. Note that aged tequilas (if you decide to use those) also have this woody character.

As with most simple recipes, the quality of your ingredients will go a long way in determining how good the cocktail ends up being. Avoid “Gold” Tequilas, and try to reach for one that is 100% blue agave. 

Consider adding a splash of mezcal to introduce a smoky element to your Margaritas.

It is likely that the Margarita gets its name from being a Daisy - a category of cocktails that involves a spirit, a liqueur and citrus juice. Daisy in Spanish is Margarita. According to historian David Wondrich, the Margarita is related to a Brandy Daisy, but made with Tequila instead.

The oldest reference we have of a Tequila Daisy is from 1936 in the Movile Mail Newspaper, where the editor recounts a trip to Tijuana and Agua Caliente where an Irish bartender named Madden served him a Tequila Daisy. Madden explained that the cocktail was created by mistake, when he grabbed the wrong bottle to make a Daisy.

In 2005, Smithsonian's National Museum of American History acquired the world's first frozen Margarita machine, invented in 1971 by Dallas restaurateur Mariano Martinez. While shaken Margaritas were enjoyed in México and in the US at least 30 years prior, it was the frozen Margarita which catapulted the drink to being a staple in popular culture, as well as a large number of restaurants and bars in the US.