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
Measures below are multiplied for 12 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 720 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 720 ml line. Tequila blanco - A 100% agave blanco, and a good one - there is nothing to hide behind here
- 360 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 360 ml line. Lime juice
- 180 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 180 ml line. Agave syrup
- 12 pinches Salt - A pinch in the shaker rather than on the rim (optional)
- 12 wheels 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
Batch (12 drinks)Batch (12 drinks) - about 1.26 l of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- 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
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
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