In an unexpected turn of mid-February events, the Calendrical Gods have deemed today National Margarita Day.
In busier times, we might brush over another dubious culinary holiday. But there’s a lot to be had about the margarita. There’s certainly not another cocktail that has its own “ville” for one. You might even argue it’s America’s most widely beloved cocktail since Francisco “Pancho” Morales invented the thing in Juárez in 1942.
So to commemorate this holiest of days, we got to thinking: Which is the best margarita? Not the highest rated or the most impressive in town—there’s plenty of SEO-driven articles for that. But the one that situationally, as the Internet might best understand, hits different? The margaritas you look back on fondly. The ones you celebrate with perhaps another margarita.
These are the paramount margaritas we’re ranking, analyzing and discussing today, from cantina cocktails to backyard fills. It remains to be seen if they get drunk.
5. The Happy Hour Marg
The one you waited all week for in college, perhaps with no more than $20 in your pocket. That’s all you needed when the happy hour margs text came calling. Just some cheap Juárez Silver, crappy mixer, an old lime and Morton’s salt on the rim. Two-for-one, nothing snooty.
4. The DIY Marg
AKA the Wild Marg. A special, impromptu concoction you and your roommates shake up when the correct ingredients present themselves. That rogue orange, fresh lime and jalapeno in the fridge? It’s about to get ransacked by a bevy of Casamigos. Rimmed with a wild blend of salt and spices you deem will taste perfect for no reason at all. On rare occasions, it turns out OK. But more often than not, it winds up a celebrated triumph of the inebriated spirit.
3. The Cantina Marg
Dim lights, good company, tortilla chips still hot from the fryer. A steaming skillet of fajitas whizzing by. A top-quality, ice-cold margarita made by an actual professional as you open a menu of endless possibilities. That’s the good stuff.
2. Your Buddy’s Dad’s Marg
You heard stories about it when you were 15. It finally TKO’d you when you turned 21. Your Buddy’s Dad’s Marg has been fueling backyard cookouts and immaculate times for generations. It has no concrete recipe. There’s no place for measuring cups and stirrers here. But it’s batted 1.000 since it first came into the league. Heroes get remembered—Your Buddy’s Dad’s Marg never dies.
1. The Beach Bar Marg
How much better is a great margarita than a good one? There’s a strong argument to be made that the key to the perfect tequila alloy lies not in some secret ingredient, but the setting in which it’s consumed. And a fresh, rim-salted margarita under a hot sun and nothing but an ocean in frame beats a meticulous cocktail every time.