Paco Jones is a mythological figure lost to time and memory. But we’ll tell you his story as best as we have been able to make it out.

Born to dream, Caleb Jones (his real name) left home in Kansas to seek his fortune in California to mine for gold. Things didn’t quite work out as well as he had hoped and he wound up doing odd jobs in San Francisco. A somewhat ornery sort, most of his earnings were lost at the gambling tables and most of his jaw was broken several times in fistfights.

One day, he learned that there was an awful lot of gold in Mexico. On his faithful horse and a new burro to carry his gear, that’s where Paco headed next. South to fortune.

Once he was on the Sierra Madre in Mexico, Caleb was lost and was soon attacked by roving natives. His horse, burro and all of his belongings were taken. Caleb, bleeding by the side of a river, was left for dead.

A Mexican family traveling south to Jalisco happened to need water and stopped on the road uphill from the river. Their beautiful daughter, Esmeralda, was sent down with some canteens. Happening upon Caleb, Esmeralda immediately tried to revive him. Caleb was barely alive, but she was able to give him water to drink and soon ran to get her family members to help carry Caleb to their wagon.

Delirious, without knowing any Spanish, all that Caleb could say was where he was from: San Francisco. Soon Esmeralda decided that he meant that his name was Francisco and started calling him “Paco”, the pet name in Spanish for those named Francisco.

Esmeralda took loving care of Paco all the way to the family home in Jalisco. Once Paco recovered his memory and health, he came to love his new name: Paco Jones. More than that, he came to love Esmeralda.

On their wedding day, Paco and Esmeralda drank tequila to celebrate, tequila born of the fertile Jalisco earth and distilled from the sweet core of the agave plants that had taken years to mature under the warmth of the Mexican sun. Paco decided that loving Esmeralda and making tequila was what he had left home for. He perfected the craft of making tequila from that day forward.

And, most important, Paco’s dreams finally came true...

Is this story all made up? That’s a fun question to ask, as you sip a cool Paco Jones margarita.