This drink appears in the 1938 book New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ‘Em. I chose it to kick off Margarita Month as an example of an early tequila sour. We had this on a classics menu at Gigantic, where Ned King and Kris Kirkland tweaked the spec to create this fantastic, slightly smoky riff on the original. It’s fun to do a tropical presentation with this drink (crushed ice, mint garnish, bitters dashed atop), as it’s akin to an agave-spirit Daiquiri.

The classic spec for a Margarita started firming up in the late 1930s, though not necessarily going by its now-famous name yet. The drink took hold of America in the 1950s on a grand scale and this classic version with orange liqueur served up reflects the drink’s aesthetic at the time. The sugar-salt rim sprang from my fascination with people who order sugar rims on their Margaritas, but trust me on this one–it works!

Invented by Julio Bermejo at Tommy’s Mexican restaurant in San Francisco in 1990, this austere but extremely delicious (and my favorite!) variation on the classic gave the drink the Daiquiri treatment by using a sweetener produced from the same plant as the base spirit–agave. Though stunning with blanco tequila, I love this version even more with reposado. Rocks and salt are advised.

I have been playing around with a tequila-based version of Philadelphia’s own Clover Club for over a year now and finally landed on this beauty. An unusual sort-of reverse dry shake technique makes the use of jam and desire for perfect egg white texture achievable.

While looking for a way to use this month’s amaro in a shaken drink with roots in the early 20th century, I happened upon Hugo Ensslin’s “Hugo Bracer” from 1917. Originally a mix of apple brandy, lime, Amer Picon and grenadine served in a goblet, ours goes in a yet-more-tropical direction, expressing what I’d call a proto-“tiki” aesthetic.

This is an ode to the imaginary point in time, in this month’s period of interest (1900- 1919) when the prevailing Martini ratio was 2:1. Bright, briny fino or Manzanilla sherry works in perfect harmony with the blanco tequila, all of which is enhanced by a little salinity and citrus.