Javascript must be enabled in your browser to use this page.
Please enable Javascript under your Tools menu in your browser.
Once javascript is enabled Click here to go back to Saturday Night Magazine
Margarita King Print E-mail
Written by Michelle Chan   
Tuesday, November 07 2006
Margaritas are delicious and universal. Everyone is acquainted with the margarita. Whether it be through various underage trips to Tijuana, fine dining at the taco shack down the street, or the tequila-heavy concoction you end up with at home, we’ve all come across some form of the Mexican specialty at one point or another. Giovanni is quite aware of this fact.
Giovanni is the Margarita King.

Opposed to what you may be thinking, this isn’t a nickname he got from winning a marg-chugging bet. Capitalizing on our nation’s love for the salt-rimmed cocktail, Giovanni created the first premium bottled margarita appropriately called “Margarita King.”

With his signature drink by his side, Giovanni has ventured into some uncharted territories, celebrated with celebrities, and kicked some marg contest ass over the past six years. In fact, Giovanni has won the Beverage Tasting Institute’s gold medal (which Gio compared to “winning the Oscars for your movie”) for the past three years, a historic feat in itself.

But this “Margarita King,” ironically, hasn’t always been in the margarita business. Giovanni actually developed restaurants for over 20 years, a period of time where he’d “buy restaurants, build them and then sell them.” Serving award-winning margaritas at his establishments, he gradually picked up the alias lovingly given to him by the press, “the Margarita King.” However, the dot-com fiasco at the turn of the century led Giovanni to make a career change. Alas, it was time for Gio to hit the bottle: it was the perfect opportunity to develop not a restaurant, but his margarita.

Breaking ground for the alcohol industry, Giovanni aimed to bring a quality ready-to-drink cocktail to the masses. “Yes, before Margarita King, there were pre-mixed margarita in the market,” explained Sean Benz, executive assistant to the Margarita King, “but they weren’t really very well-known. Now you see more in the market – like Jose Cuervo – but the trend was started by the Margarita King.” Giovanni put a product on the shelf that provided the best: “I use natural juices, no artificial flavors, and no sugar.” To this day it still ravages competition being, amongst other titles, the only bottled marg to have a whopping 17% alcohol by volume.

What’s more is that the Margarita King doesn’t just sell booze. It neatly packages a ritzy lifestyle and all of Gio’s personality into one sleek bottle. In a way, the Margarita King is for margaritas what Cristal is for chamgapne. His energy has really gotten the drink in with the Hollywood homies. “So I’m standing behind Usher with my Margarita King,” Gio began to describe, “and he grabbed my hand, took the bottle, opened it in front of everyone, put the cork in his mouth and started pouring it for everyone.”

Some may credit Giovanni’s effervescent demeanor for giving the drink that extra somethin-somethin’, but it may actually be in his unusual tequila-making process. “If you play classical music in the factory, you can see how the tequila looks like it’s boiling,” Gio explains. “The music moves the tequila. People will say how the hell did this happen? Is it the music? It’s the music.”

Whether you believe in Bach upping your tequila-related endeavors or not, the Margarita King’s core message is an easy one to follow: “Remember that life is about having fun and having a good time.” Listen to him guys, he’s royalty.

Comments (3)add
The outlook of margaritas. The Margarita King
written by Peter , May 23, 2007
Hi! We have tasted the Margarita King here in Manila a beer county. But definitely we feel that The Margarita KIng will be a hit in Manita soon. We do have to change only how Margaitas are presented in the bars. They have always been branded as a ladies drink. So we suggest that when they make their titles to a margarita mix is to indicate margarita in the end. For example, many are not familiar that tequilas can be presented as flavored cocktails, fruit juises or mix with fruits itself and more. Example of Title: Cranberry Juice Cocktail (Margarita King), Pineapple Juice Cocktail (Margarita) and so on. Another presentation will be by presenting Margarita as Ice cold mix in a SLURPY form and sip using straw with flavors added. They can even present it with Fruity Ice cream of with Margarita King. Well This is are examples by which we fill that Margarita comes to a HIT. Thanks KIng Me Baby!!
will the real margarita king please stand up
written by johnny , May 04, 2007

some one is a little jealous...
...
written by Former employees of Sol y Luna Restaurants , May 04, 2007
Margarita King, don`t lie about your margarita recipes saing you were the inventor, tell the true....... where you get it from?, good luck
Write comment
quote
bold
italicize
underline
strike
url
image
quote
quote
Smiley
Smiley
Smiley
Smiley
Smiley
Smiley
Smiley
Smiley
Smiley
Smiley
Smiley

busy
 
< Prev   Next >
 
SEPTEMBER 2008 ISSUE
Available on NOW!
 
Advertisement

Sponsors

"