The Margarita -The milkman did it
Salted Rims and Border Crossings
“Why do you want to interview a Milkman?” he asked. The young reporter shifted from foot to foot and said “Are you the milkman that invented the margarita? “
He whipped his head around, he was good-looking in the way of aging Hispanic men, just the right amount of grey hair. “How did you find out about that? That was a long time ago. I don’t even like tequila, I’m a scotch and water guy” he said with a smirk.
He unloaded empty crates from the back of his Prices Creamery van. His strong hands gripped and carried the crates, stacking them several at a time. The reporter grabbed some of the crates and piled them on the pallet. The red logo had been on his shirt for 18 years. That was a long time ago.
As he stacked another crate, a brief smile broke through. ‘Mexico...those were good times, family and all,’ he said, more to himself than to the reporter.
The kid was still around. “What do you want to know?” he grunted.
The young reporter, her curly hair escaping the confines of a loose bun, leaned in, her eagerness barely contained. She said, “Tell me about Tommy’s Place.”
Memories flooded back with each clink of glass as the milkman unloaded the last of the crates from the van. Pausing, he let his gaze linger on the now-faded logo of Prices Creamery before turning to the reporter, ready to share his tale of Tommy’s Place.
He started, “In the ‘old days’ I was head bartender at Tommy’s Place along Juarez Avenue. We got soldiers from Fort Bliss and pilots from Biggs Airfield as well as locals and tourists.”
With a wistful smile, the milkman reminisced about Tommy's Place, he could recall the warm glow of the neon sign casting its flickering light onto the bustling street, the rhythmic pulse of jazz music spilling out from the open doorway, and the fragrant aroma of freshly squeezed limes mingling with the heady scent of tequila. He remembered the customers, white and black, civilian and military, all in one place for a good time. Tommy’s Place was a haven on the other side of the border in a place with a different set of rules.
“We would create drinks for customers, and we kept putting up signs with new names for the concoctions to grab people’s attention. I was good at remembering people’s names and that made me popular. Cocktails named for planes were popular with the pilots “P-38,” and “B-29,” but one of our most popular drinks was one of mine the “Conga Cooler.” “
With a nostalgic sigh, the milkman shifted in his seat, bringing himself back to the present. Regaining his composure, he met the eager gaze of the young reporter, poised to capture his every word.
"Do you remember when you came up with the Margarita? It was in 1942, right?" the reporter inquired eagerly.
"I remember the margarita day, it was Fourth of July" the milkman confirmed, his gaze drifting into the past.
As he recalled the bustling Fourth of July at Tommy’s Place, his eyes glazed over with memories. Flags waved proudly, and despite the bar being in Mexico, many patrons hailed from across the border. He remembered with a blush that the lady pilots had been in town flying through Biggs Army Airfield delivering planes.
A lady had come to the bar and asked for a Magnolia.
“Well.., I didn’t know that one but didn’t want to say, ‘I don’t know how to make that drink.’”
“I knew, roughly, that a Magnolia contained Cointreau, some lime, and booze. I faked it and made it with tequila.”
She liked it. She said, ‘Oh, this isn’t a Magnolia, but it is very good.’
And, I said, ‘Oh, oh, I thought you said Margarita.’ She ordered another one and suddenly everyone was ordering one. You see Margarita is a flower like a magnolia it’s a daisy, in Spanish. That’s how the name originated.
He leaned in, a conspiratorial grin spreading across his face. ‘Ever wonder what the secret to a good Margarita is?’ The young reporter nodded eagerly, ready to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
“Today bartenders put too much salt on the rim, the right way to do it is to rub the rim of the glass with a fresh lime, then sprinkle salt from a salt shaker on the outside of the rim.
Also, my original recipe was the juice of one lime, 4/5 tequila, 1/5 Cointreau, and salt on the outside rim of a three-ounce glass. But 1942 Cointreau was much heavier so today it is better with 2/3 tequila, 1/3 Cointreau. “
He paused, the gleam in his eye softening as he shared the precise mix. 'But you know, it wasn't just about the drink... it was about the times, the people, the memories we made.' His voice trailed off, lost in the past for a moment.
The reporter, leaned in closer, her voice gentle yet curious. 'And those memories, that journey... how did it lead you here, to America?'"
He glanced at the dashboard, a faint smile touching his lips as he pointed at an old, faded photo. 'That picture... taken right after the war. My friends, they made a new start in America. Made me dream of possibilities, of a new beginning for myself. Made me think, I can do that.' He sighed a mix of nostalgia and gratitude in his eyes.
Listen, I have to go home and get to bed early, I start at 2:30 am.”
Francisco ‘Pancho’ Morales was the head bartender at Tommy’s Place in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. He emigrated to the United States in 1945 and worked for Prices Creamery for 25 years as a milkman. He met his wife Margarita in 1956 and they had three children. Pancho passed in 1996; he was 78. He rarely gave interviews but is credited with the creation of the Margarita by the Mexican authorities.
While Pancho Morales's tale weaves one thread in the Margarita's colorful history, another story unfolds north of the border, offering a different version of the cocktail's origin.
In 1952, amidst efforts to soften tequila's hard-drinking, macho image, Jose Cuervo stumbled upon a golden opportunity. A single restaurant, The Tail O’ the Cock, was outpacing all others in tequila sales, thanks to an innovative concoction.
The restaurant’s head bartender was named Johnny Durlesser. He had been asked to duplicate a drink a lady customer had once tasted in Mexico. He put together a drink that pleased the lady (who, naturally, was named Margaret) and the drink was a hit. Vern Underwood, the tequila distributor says he and the owner of the restaurant named it the Margarita.
Could it be that the mysterious lady at The Tail O’ the Cock, whose request sparked a cocktail revolution, once sipped a similar creation under the neon lights of Tommy’s Place in Ciudad Juárez? The tangled threads of history leave us to ponder the true origins of the Margarita.
There are many varieties of Margarita. My favorite is the Baja Margarita.
INGREDIENTS
1 oz. blanco tequila
1 oz. Controy (Mexican orange liqueur; substitute Cointreau or Triple Sec)
1/2 oz. Damiana (eponymous liqueur made from the native Baja California Sur plant)
splash of fresh lime juice
splash of fresh orange juice
PREPARATION
Mix ingredients and pour over ice in a glass.
If you prefer a slushy consistency, pour a glass of ice into the blender with the ingredients and mix. If you are making a slushy add a little more Damiana as it is nicer if a little sweeter.
When salting the rim rub a slice of lime along the rim and sprinkle salt from a shaker to keep the salt on the outside. The rim-dipping method adds a lot of salt and it gets inside the glass as well, affecting flavor.