Not long ago in this space, I wrote about the dominance of the margarita when it comes to drinks made with tequila. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of drinks made with gin, but there are only a handful of tequila cocktails: the margarita, the tequila sunrise, the Chimayo, the margarita, and, well, did I mention the margarita?

Tequila was long considered an exotic quaff, and well into the 20th century, it was all but unknown in the United States. It wasn’t until the 1940s, when the war interfered with the normal liquor import business, that tequila was shipped north in significant quantities. A newspaper ad campaign launched in 1944 provides a flavor of how tequila was introduced to American drinkers. “What’s New–? TEQUILA. HAVE YOU TRIED TEQUILA? A Bit of Old Mexico. TEQUILA. FOR FUN, TEQUILA. Let Your Guests Try, TEQUILA.” The spirit was hyped as “NEW AND FASHIONABLE.”