The Picador is one of the 15 Tequila based drinks in the Café Royal Cocktail Book, published in 1937. I have written the recipe as it appears in the book, which happens to be in parts, rather than ounces or ml.
1/4 fresh Lime or Lemon Juice
1/4 Cointreau
1/2 Tequila
Shake
If the ingredients to this drink look familiar, thats because they are exactly the same as the drink we commonly call the Margarita. Same ingredients, but different name leaves numerous questions begging to be answered.
Is it possible that the same drink was created on opposite sides of the Atlantic, differing only in name?
Or, bearing in mind that that the Café Royal Cocktail Book was published in 1937, is it possible that the Margarita was actually created in London under the name Picador in the early 1930′s and changed name after reaching the U.S.A?
My advise on the matter is make the above recipe, call it what you like then sit back and ponder. If by the end of the drink you still have no answer, make yourself another and try again…
