8 Great Margarita Recipes for National Margarita Day

Published December 11, 2016

The origins of National Margarita Day are as murky as those of the cocktail it celebrates—fitting, perhaps, for a sweet, tequila-heavy concoction famous for its memory-fogging abilities.

In any case, depending on what story you believe (or website you read), the margarita was invented by Los Angeles bartender Johnny Durlesser, Texas socialite Margaret Sames, Mexican bartender Carlos “Danny” Herrera, or a slew of other contenders--each of whom had a Margarita in their lives.

Another likely story: The cocktail is a descendant of the Brandy Daisy, a popular cocktail of the late 19th century, with "margarita" being the translation for the flower name.

No matter. The fact is, there is no better way to celebrate National Margarita Day then to actually make some of the best rita's out there right in your kitchen.

Today, the margarita is by far America's favorite cocktail: 185,000 are consumed in the U.S. per hour, according to a 2008 survey by wine-and-spirits company Brown-Forman. And since it doesn't take much to get people going—Twitter, in fact, shows evidence that some of the confused masses have been celebrating National Margarita Day since Sunday—expect that average to go up today.