Preparation
- Fill the serving glass with fresh ice cubes. Add the ingredients to a shaker.
- Shake vigorously with plenty of ice for about 10–15 seconds.
- Strain through a bar strainer over the fresh ice.
- Garnish to finish: lime wheel.
What does it taste like?
The first impression is lime, clear and distinctly tart. Right behind it stands the tequila, and it stays there. A 100% agave tequila tastes vegetal, a bit peppery, sometimes slightly earthy. That's exactly what you're meant to notice here. The agave nectar sweetens without pushing in its own flavor, since it comes from the same plant. Without orange liqueur, the fruity middle layer of the classic Margarita is missing. As a result, the drink feels clearer and drier. 60 milliliters of tequila to 30 milliliters of lime makes a short, powerful sour that tastes best cold.
When does it work best?
Tommy's Margarita works before a meal and with anything spiced. It's short and strong, so one is usually enough. Beginners do well with it, as long as they like tart flavors, since there's nothing bitter here. If you only know tequila from shots, this gives you a completely different picture. It's not sweet or fruity, though.
What matters
Agave nectar isn't the same thickness or sweetness everywhere. Start with the 30 milliliters given in the recipe and adjust from there. With a very concentrated product, stir it with a little water beforehand, or the drink will turn sticky. Also pay attention to the tequila: the recipe calls for 100% agave. There's no orange liqueur here to mask a weak spirit.
Where the drink comes from
Julio Bermejo developed this Margarita at his family's restaurant, Tommy's, in San Francisco. Hence the name. His change was small but had a big effect: instead of orange liqueur, he used agave syrup. That put the agave plant, the same source as the tequila, at the center. Exactly when this happened is reported differently in different sources. That doesn't change the idea behind it. The variation became its own modern Margarita style, not just a random ingredient swap. Order it today and you get a standalone classic.