How America's Favorite Cocktail Got Its Start & Where It's Headed Next
The margarita is the most popular cocktail in America. It has held that title for years, outselling every other drink on bar menus from coast to coast. But for all its ubiquity, its origins remain deliciously murky—a tangle of competing legends, romantic backstories, and border-town bartenders who each claim to have poured the first one.
What we know for certain: at some point in the 1930s or 1940s, someone along the US-Mexico border combined tequila, lime juice, and orange liqueur, rimmed the glass with salt, and gave it a name. The rest is folklore.
The stories are as good as the drink. In 1936, a hotel manager in Tehuacán, Mexico, named Danny Negrete allegedly created the cocktail for his girlfriend, Margarita, who loved salt in her drinks. A few years later, a bartender named Carlos Herrera claimed to have invented it at his Tijuana-area restaurant for an actress named Marjorie King, who was allergic to every spirit except tequila. He softened it with lime and Cointreau and called it the Margarita—the Spanish version of her name. Then there's the accidental origin: in 1942, a bartender named Pancho Morales was working in Ciudad Juárez when a woman asked for a Magnolia. He couldn't remember the recipe, so he improvised with tequila, Cointreau, and lime. When she pointed out it wasn't a Magnolia, he told her he thought she'd said "Margarita." She liked it. The name stuck.
The truth is probably simpler. "Margarita" is the Spanish word for "daisy," and the Daisy was a popular category of cocktail in the early 20th century—a base spirit shaken with citrus and sweetened with orange liqueur. Swap in tequila for gin or whiskey, and you have something that looks a lot like a margarita. The drink may have simply been a tequila Daisy that crossed the border and picked up a new name along the way.
However it started, the margarita remained a classic for decades: simple, refreshing, and perfectly balanced. Then, in 1971, a Dallas restaurateur named Mariano Martinez changed everything. Frustrated that his bartenders complained margaritas took too long to make and customers said they melted too fast, Martinez walked into a 7-Eleven one day, saw a Slurpee machine, and had an idea. He retrofitted a soft-serve ice cream machine to dispense frozen margaritas instead. The result was a sensation. His original machine now sits in the Smithsonian.
The frozen margarita became a fixture of Tex-Mex restaurants, beach bars, and backyard parties. It also opened the door to endless variations: strawberry, mango, blue curaçao, and giant fishbowl-sized portions served with a straw. The margarita had officially entered the mainstream.
Nearly a century later, the cocktail is still evolving. It's been frozen, flavored, and supersized. It's been served in dive bars and Michelin-starred restaurants. It's been made with mezcal, with jalapeño, with everything but the kitchen sink. And now, it's entering a new chapter: functional.
Little Saints' new Canned Margarita is the next step in that evolution: a non-alcoholic version that honors the classic while pushing the tradition forward. It’s salt-kissed and bright with bitter orange, with all the lime and none of the sugar, and is boosted with organic reishi, lion's mane, and damiana to keep you grounded and clear while warming the senses. It's the margarita reimagined for how people actually drink now: intentionally, socially, and without the next-day regret. The ritual stays the same. The recipe just got an upgrade.
The Little Saints Margarita launches February 22nd on National Margarita Day. Find it at littlesaints.com.
