A Margarita with a slow-burning fuse: blanco tequila, orange liqueur and bright lime are rounded with a touch of agave and shaken hard with muddled fresh jalapeño, so the heat blooms gradually against the citrus. Served cold on the rocks, it drinks tart, green-edged and quietly fiery, while a Tajín or chili-salt rim sharpens every sip.
Garnish: Tajín Rim, Lime Wheel
Shaken · Rocks · On the Rocks
rinse
Rim a chilled rocks glass with Tajín or chili salt, then fill with cubed ice.
muddle
Gently muddle the jalapeño slices in the bottom of a shaker.
add
Add tequila blanco, triple sec, lime juice, and agave nectar.
shake
Add ice and shake hard until well-chilled.
strain
Double-strain into the prepared rocks glass over fresh ice.
garnish
Garnish with a lime wheel and a jalapeño slice.
The Margarita it builds on has no settled birth story — it is credited variously to Carlos "Danny" Herrera in 1938, to Don Carlos Orozco at Hussong's in 1941, to Francisco "Pancho" Morales in 1942 and to Margarita Sames in 1948, among other claims. The chili-laced version has no named inventor or home bar either. It took hold during the cocktail revival of the early twenty-first century, with bartenders drawing heat from jalapeño or serrano, or from chili bitters, and finishing glasses with chili salt. Today it turns up as a regular on modern cocktail lists.