The day to honor the classic combination of tequila, triple sec and lime juice falls on a Sunday this year. Let us pray, and pass the shaker of salt.
National Margarita Day is February 22. It debuted in the late 1930s. A frozen version first appeared in the ’70s. Today, the beverage of choice of late great crooner Jimmy Buffett comes flavored by strawberry, mango and nearly any fruit you can render to a blender.
“Bad Ass Mexican” restaurant El Chingon will be more tequila-forward than usual this month. The Gaslamp Quarter hotspot will celebrate National Margarita Day and also hold a cocktail contest featuring Santo Tequila.
Santo is the brand created by rocker Sammy Hagar and TV chef Guy Fieri. The Santo sampling social will take place February 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. at El Chingon and downtown sister speakeasy Prohibition.
Three days later (plenty of time for a hangover to wear off), El Chingon’s National Tequila Day celebration includes a cocktail contest featuring Bad Ass Destilado tequila and a honeydew margarita made exclusively for the day. The public will vote for the winning bartender, who gets an all-expenses-paid trip to Tequila, the small town in Jalisco, Mexico, where the spirit is made.
The God of the Parrotheads would roll over in his grave if the Margaritaville Hotel San Diego Gaslamp Quarter sat out National Margarita Day Day. That afternoon from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., guests can do an inhouse Margarita Tasting Crawl.
There’s a prickly pear margarita to be quaffed at the hotel’s LandShark Bar & Grill; a classic margarita and non-alcoholic option at the Lobby Pop-Up; a coffee margarita at Margaritaville Coffee Shop; and a frozen margarita at the 5 o’Clock Somewhere rooftop bar.
Be sure to count as you crawl from one margarita to the next. You know the old expression: one tequila, two tequila, three tequila…floor. SDSun
