How An Accident Led To The Creation Of Everyone's Favorite Party Drink

Whether it's on the rocks or frozen, served with a salted rim or a slice of jalapeño, the margarita is a staple at everything from Taco Tuesdays and bachelorette parties to backyard get-togethers. The perfect margarita recipe is easy to make, refreshing, and endlessly customizable. (For example, Ina Garten prefers hers with an unconventional twist: a hint of lemon juice.)

But while its signature mix of tequila, lime,  and orange liqueur may seem like a no-brainer to fans today, the drink was invented entirely by accident in the 1930s, when an Irish bartender in Tijuana named Henry Madden reached for the wrong bottle of liquor. Intending to make a Daisy cocktail — a popular blend of whiskey (or gin), lemon juice, orange cordial, grenadine, and soda water — the bartender mistakenly swapped tequila for the whiskey. Happily, the customers who'd ordered the drinks were so thrilled at the resulting beverage that they spread the word, and eventually, the "tequila daisy" evolved into the margarita we know and love today.

And if you speak Spanish, this may all make perfect sense: Margarita is, after all, the Spanish word for daisy.

The main difference between the original daisy cocktail and the modem margarita is the inclusion of club soda. In fact, the daisy may have more in common with the low-effort ranch water cocktail, a blend of club soda, tequila, and lime juice. The paloma also bears a close resemblance to the tequila daisy, but with the addition of grapefruit juice. However, the key elements — citrus flavors and tequila — are present in both the tequila daisy and the margarita.

How exactly the tequila daisy morphed into the margarita is up for debate. Jose Cuervo, a leading tequila brand, claims to have invented the margarita. At the very least, they definitely helped popularize it with their 1940s-era, "It's more than a girl's name" ad campaign. By the 1950s, the margarita's star was solidly on the rise, and is one of the most popular cocktails in the U.S. No doubt this popularity was maintained in part by the invention of the frozen margarita machine in 1971. In order to keep up with the demand for blended margaritas (made in an actual blender), restauranteur Mariano Martinez outfitted a soft-serve ice cream machine to dispense frozen margs. While not another accident, it was a moment of inspiration that changed beverage history.

So next time you make a margarita, whether you're using top-shelf or bottom-shelf tequila, or even a fancy frozen drink machine, send a thought of gratitude to Henry Madden — and his revolutionary mistake.