Who invented frozen margarita machine

Freeze overnight. When ready, place frozen cubes into a high-power blender and blend until slushy-texture. Add ice and blend until smooth. Rim margarita cups with salt optional and serve with fresh lime slices.

Photography: Courtesy Rivertop Grill, J. Subscribe to our Newsletter. Turns out you could. Mariano purchased a soft-serve ice cream machine, tinkered with it, and on May 11, , pulled the lever, and out came Mariano's signature slushy green frozen margarita.

The invention was a game-changer for Mariano, the tequila industry and bars and restaurants nationwide. His original machine is now on loan to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.

And the margarita, of course, is a tequila cocktail made with a spirit that our neighbors in Mexico made. So I like to think that Texans like specifically the margarita and other tequila cocktails because tequila comes from close to home. The Dallas restaurant community was small, he says, and the Mexican restaurant community even smaller. But I do believe this. It was godsend. All my ideas have come to me in a flash. I feel like all ideas are already out there in the world.

You just have to be sensitive enough and quiet enough to tune into them. Fifty years later, the margarita is among the most popular cocktails in America, and tequila sales are so robust that there is now an agave shortage in Mexico.

And during the pandemic, frozen drink machines helped struggling bars capture essential revenue by allowing them to make and sell high-quality to-go drinks without a ton of labor. Nico Martini, founder of Bar Draught in Dallas and author of Texas Cocktails , says that's because "the margarita is one of the most simple templates to rip off. It's really easy to mess with. But he adds that restaurants putting a craft-cocktail spin on the margarita also comes from a better food movement.

But is Martinez, the father of the frozen margarita machine, threatened by the evolution of a drink he popularized? Not at all.

He says he embraces the cocktail movement, and looks forward to finding new ways to please patrons. But wherever the cocktail movement goes, Martinez knows the frozen margarita will hold fast. Jesus Jimenez , Staff Writer. He currently covers breaking news and weather. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas.