50 free Margarita trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Nobody agrees on who invented the margarita, which makes it perfect quiz material. Was it a Tijuana bartender mixing for a dancer allergic to every spirit but tequila? A Juárez bar on the Fourth of July 1942? A Dallas socialite in Acapulco? This quiz walks through every claim, then covers the drink itself: the IBA ratio, why it is really a daisy, the salt rim, the Cadillac and Tommy's variations, the frozen margarita machine built from a soft-serve unit in 1971, and the Jimmy Buffett song that turned it into a lifestyle. Because a margarita is mostly tequila, the second half covers the spirit: the blue agave, the jimadores and their coa, Jalisco, blanco versus reposado versus añejo, the Cuervo licence of 1795, the truth about the worm, and the most expensive bottle ever sold. Easy questions ask what the three classic ingredients are; hard ones want the Esquire recipe date and the name of the Ensenada cantina that claims the drink. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the margarita, tequila, the liqueurs and the brands, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up. Made for Cinco de Mayo parties, National Margarita Day and bar trivia nights.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What are the three classic ingredients of a margarita?
Tequila, triple sec and lime juice
It is the most popular tequila cocktail in the United States and can be served on the rocks, straight up or frozen.
Q 02What does the Spanish word 'margarita' mean in English?
Daisy
Cocktail historian David Wondrich links the drink to the brandy daisy, remade with tequila.
Q 03What is traditionally rubbed on the rim of a margarita glass?
Salt
Tajín, the chili-lime seasoning, is an increasingly common alternative.
Q 04What is the International Bartenders Association ratio of the spirit to the liqueur to the citrus?
10:4:3
Cointreau's own 'Original Margarita' is 1 part tequila to half a part each of Cointreau and lime.
Q 05For which dancer, allergic to every spirit but tequila, did Carlos Herrera claim to invent the margarita in 1938?
Marjorie King
The story, set at his Rancho La Gloria between Tijuana and Rosarito, was debunked by the San Diego Reader in 1992.
Q 06Which Ensenada bar claims the margarita was created there in 1941 for a customer named Margarita Henkel?
Hussong's
Bartender Don Carlos Orozco supposedly named it for the regular; whether she was an ambassador's daughter is disputed.
Q 07In which city did Francisco 'Pancho' Morales say he first mixed a margarita on July 4, 1942?
Juárez
He later moved to the US and worked as a milkman for 25 years.
Q 08Dallas socialite Margarita Sames said she invented the drink in 1948 at her holiday home in which resort?
Acapulco
The best-selling tequila brand was already advertising margaritas in 1945 with the slogan 'It's more than a girl's name'.
Q 09Which singer supposedly had the drink named after her by Santos Cruz in Galveston in 1948?
Peggy Lee
Margarita is the Spanish form of her first name; it is one of at least half a dozen competing origin stories.
Q 10Which magazine published the first known margarita recipe as its 'Drink of the Month' in December 1953?
Esquire
It called for an ounce of Sierra tequila, a dash of triple sec and the juice of half a lime or lemon.
Q 11Substituting Grand Marnier for triple sec makes which variation?
Cadillac margarita
Grand Marnier's Cordon Rouge dates from 1880 and was reportedly named by hotelier César Ritz.
Q 12Tommy's margarita, an IBA new-era drink, replaces the triple sec with what?
Agave nectar
It comes from Tommy's Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco and is served in a rocks glass over ice.
Q 13Who introduced the dedicated frozen margarita machine in Dallas in 1971?
Mariano Martinez
Albert Hernandez had first blended margaritas in La Jolla in 1947, but Martinez adapted a soft-serve machine to dispense them.
Q 21In 2023, 'Margaritaville' was selected for preservation by which institution?
The Library of Congress
It joined the National Recording Registry, seven years after entering the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Q 22Which British band's 1983 single 'Marguerita Time' took the drink as its title and cover art inspiration?
Status Quo
The margarita's mix of salt, sweet and sour is often cited for its popularity.
Q 23Tequila must be made from which plant?
Blue agave
Mezcal can be made from many agaves; tequila only from Agave tequilana Weber blue variety.
Q 14Where did Albert Hernandez first serve blender-made frozen margaritas in 1947?
La Jolla, California
Hernandez ran the La Plaza restaurant and is credited with popularising the drink in San Diego.
Q 15Which grapefruit-soda variant is the margarita's closest cousin?
Paloma
In Mexico it is usually made with Squirt or Jarritos; the cantarito adds lemon and other citrus juices.
Q 16Swap the tequila for vodka and a margarita becomes which drink?
A kamikaze
The cosmopolitan adds cranberry; a gimlet is gin or vodka with lime cordial.
Q 17What is a 'beergarita' or 'Coronarita'?
A beer bottle upended into a margarita
The bottle slowly drains into the drink as you sip.
Q 18Which citrus are margaritas usually made with in Mexico, rather than Persian limes?
Key limes
Mexican limes are smaller, thinner-skinned and more tart.
Q 19Whose 1977 song 'Margaritaville' helped make the drink famous?
Jimmy Buffett
It reached number eight on the Hot 100 and spawned a resort and restaurant empire.
Q 20What position did 'Margaritaville' reach on the Billboard Hot 100?
Number 8
It topped the Easy Listening chart and was Buffett's highest-charting solo single.
Q 24Tequila production is centred in which Mexican state?
Jalisco
The town of Tequila sits about 65 km northwest of Guadalajara, and the region is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Q 25What is the name for the workers who harvest agave?
Jimadores
They strip the leaves with a coa, a long pole with a circular blade, to expose the piña.
Q 26What is the harvested heart of the agave plant called?
The piña
Named for its pineapple look, it can weigh around 70 kg and is baked to convert its fructans into fructose.
Q 27What is the special knife used to trim the agave leaves called?
A coa
A tahona is the stone wheel that crushes baked piñas; the quiote is the flower stalk the harvesters cut back.
Q 28What is unaged tequila called?
Blanco
Also called silver, it may be aged less than two months; 'gold' or joven usually just adds caramel colour.
Q 29How long must añejo tequila be aged in oak?
At least 12 months
Reposado needs two months, and the extra añejo class created in 2006 requires three years.
Q 30What alcohol range must a spirit fall within to be legally sold as tequila?
35 to 55 percent
It must also be produced in the tequila heartland state or a few municipalities of Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit and Tamaulipas.