Howard McEwen, CFA

Manuel Terron, who hosts Mixing with the Best and Cocktail Diaries on Fine Living and Discovery Networks in the USA sent me the following about the origin of the cocktail.  It takes away from what my Aunt Margie said, but who knows….You can see clips from his show at his company website here, but you should definitely TIVO them.

“Hi Howard, mate I am so sorry that this info is getting to you rather late but there are a number of stories surrounding the myth of the Margarita. The one I told on the show revolves around the Carlos Herrera at Rancho La Gloria who developed the drink for a young Ziegfeld Follies starlet, Marjorie King that was allergic to other alcohols and only drank tequila.  As this was not considered very ladylike in 1935, she asked him to come up with a cocktail that had tequila as the main ingredient. So Carlos added sweet for her voice, lime to match her green dress and he shook it up like she would shake it up on the dance-floor then rimmed a glass with salt to symbolize the halo over this angel head and gave it the Spanish derivation of her name, Margarita.
I’m glad last night was a success, I hope the Pimms night is just as good.  Let me know if I can help out in any way you can also email me on xxxxx.  Cheers!”