Haz clic aquí para leer esto en español
Thursday, July 24, is National Tequila Day — the ideal occasion to promote all the tequila cocktails on your menu (and maybe to create some new ones, too)!
The holiday celebrates the unique qualities and cultural significance of this popular spirit that dates to 16th century Mexico, when Spanish conquerors arrived and began cultivating and distilling the sweet juice from the blue agave plant into an alcoholic beverage.
And the rest is history. Today, tequila ranks as one of the industry’s most popular spirits, thanks in large part to the Margarita, which ranked #1 on the 2022 list of Top 10 Most Popular Cocktails from Union, a hospitality platform for bars and restaurants.
“The tequila market is solidifying its position as one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing categories within the beverage alcohol industry,” the recent Tequila Market Report from Mordor Intelligence says. An increasing demand for premium spirits and the rising popularity of cocktail culture are two things driving that growth, the report notes.
The agave-based spirit is even edging our whiskey and vodka, industry data show.
In 2024, tequila outsold vodka in American bars, according to a May 8 report from Barsys. And it “edged out Whiskey for category share… at high-volume bars and restaurants across America, in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2023,” according to Union’s OnPrem Insights.
While the history of National Tequila Day isn’t quite as clear as the history of the spirit it commemorates (it first appeared in the late 1990s to early 2000s, according to some reports), it is clearly a day to celebrate with drinks featuring tequila.
You can find these great tequila-based recipes, plus articles about the tequila and mezcal, in el Restaurante’s archives:
*El Mariachi Prickly Pear Margarita
*Jardin Pepino
*How to Inventory Tequila & Mezcal
*¡Buena Idea! Salena’s Tequila Classes
Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to el Restaurante's digital publications for free by clicking here.