Mar-gar-i-ta: n. A cocktail made with tequila, an orange-flavored liqueur, and lemon or lime juice, often served with salt encrusted on the rim of the glass. Cel-e-brate: v. To observe a day or event with ceremonies of respect, festivity, and rejoicing.
February 22, 2011 – National Margarita Day! A perfectly wonderful excuse to Celebrate! There are as many different ways to celebrate National Margarita Day as there are favorite recipes for this iconic drink. Here are a couple of suggestions:
Las Vegas
Rent a timeshare in Las Vegas and join the festivities at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, which will be offering distinctive Margarita specials and tastings throughout the day. Following are some little known facts about the Margaritaville margarita:
- While the margarita may have been created in 1948 on the hillsides of Acapulco, it wasn’t perfected until Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville opened in a Key West restaurant in the 1980’s.
- As a Guinness Book Record holder in 2001, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville in Orlando held a 9 year record for the largest Margarita ever concocted at an astounding 7038 gallons.
- Over 4 million margaritas are served annually in Margaritaville restaurants.
- At Margaritaville, margaritas ‘on the rocks’ beat out their frozen sibling 60/40.
- Margaritaville Las Vegas sells more Margaritas than any other Margaritaville location with an estimated 1 million Margaritas served annually.
- The first frozen margarita machine was invented in 1971 using soft-serve ice cream machine technology. In 2006, Margaritaville debuted The Frozen Concoction Maker, introducing shave and blend technology to home users.
Cabo San Lucas
Head south of the border and from your Cabo timeshare rental you can visit Pancho’s Restaurant & Tequila Bar, a veritable tequila museum.
Fodor’s recommends Pancho’s with this description: Hundreds of tequilas are available for tasting, and many of the colorfully named brands up on the shelves are no longer manufactured. Schedule a private tasting, at $50 per person, with Bernard Corriveau, the official “Tequila Ambassador” of Mexico, who will teach you a bit about the history, production process, and art of this complex liquor. Corriveau, appointed a “Maestro Tequilero,” by the Consejo Regalador de Tequila (loosely, the industry’s Tequila Board), just might be the most knowledgeable person on tequila in Los Cabos. Pancho’s holds group tequila tastings in English each Tuesday night at 7 pm.
And did you know? On average, Americans consume 185,000 margaritas per hour. Now that’s celebrating!
(Photo credit – margaritaville.com)