Margarita
50 ml Tequila blanco, 20 ml Triple sec, 25 ml Lime juice, 1 pinch Salt, 1 Lime wedge
Tommy's Margarita
Agave instead of orange liqueur - the tequila's Margarita.
Modern Classic
Easy
4 min
Photo: Margarita de limón, Mazatlán, 23 de noviembre de 2022 07 · All credits
Ingredients
- 60 ml Jigger One large side (50 ml) of a standard jigger, plus two teaspoons. Tequila blanco - A 100% agave blanco, and a good one - there is nothing to hide behind here
- 30 ml Jigger One small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a teaspoon. Lime juice
- 15 ml Spoons A tablespoon. Agave syrup
- 1 pinch Spoons A pinch taken between finger and thumb - about a quarter of a teaspoon. Salt - A pinch in the shaker rather than on the rim (optional)
- 1 wheel Lime (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Shake the three with ice and strain over fresh ice.
Method
- Shake the tequila, lime juice and agave syrup with ice for 12 seconds.
- Strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass, or into a chilled coupe if you prefer it neat.
- Add a thin wheel of lime, and a pinch of salt in the shaker if you want the agave to sing.
Serve it
Tommy's Margarita
Julio Bermejo made this at Tommy's Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco in 1990 by taking the orange liqueur out of a Margarita and putting agave syrup in its place. It sounds like a small adjustment and it changes everything: with the liqueur gone, you can actually taste the tequila, and a good bottle earns its keep for the first time. It has since been copied so widely that it is close to becoming the default.
Getting it right
Because there is so little in the glass, the tequila is the drink - a cheap mixto turns this into something thin and harsh, and a 100% agave blanco makes it taste like a field in Jalisco. Agave syrup rather than sugar is what keeps it in the same family as the spirit, and a tiny pinch of salt in the shaker (rather than on the rim) rounds the edges off without making the glass gritty.
Tasting notes
Clean, sharp and green, with lime right at the front and a soft, faintly roasted agave finish. It is the driest, most modern-tasting thing in the catalogue.
More Tequila blanco cocktails
Paloma
50 ml Tequila blanco, 60 ml Grapefruit juice, 15 ml Lime juice, 10 ml Simple syrup, 60 ml Soda water, 1 pinch Salt
Tequila Sunrise
45 ml Tequila blanco, 90 ml Orange juice, 15 ml Grenadine, 1 Orange slice, 1 Maraschino cherry