Tommy’s Margarita
A Tommy’s Margarita is 60ml blanco tequila made from 100% agave, 30ml fresh lime juice and 30ml agave syrup, shaken hard and strained into a rocks glass of fresh ice, with a lime wheel. The agave syrup is nectar cut one to one with water. There is no orange liqueur. About 2.4 UK units. Julio Bermejo created it in 1990 at Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, whose name the drink carries. The IBA includes it in its New Era category at these measures, and specifies 100% agave tequila. Without triple sec, the sweetener comes from the same plant as the spirit, and the tequila stands at the front of the drink. It is the plainest way to taste whether a bottle is any good.
Glassware: Rocks Glass
Garnish: Lime wheel and Half salt rim (optional)
Ingredients
60ml
Blanco and 100% agave, which the IBA requires. Unaged, it keeps the pepper and green agave notes the drink is built to show. A reposado gives a rounder, oakier drink.
30ml
Squeezed the same day. At 30ml against 30ml of cut syrup it makes a full sour, and there is no liqueur to soften stale juice.
30ml
Agave nectar cut one to one with water, so 30ml carries about 15ml of nectar. It sweetens with a faint note of the plant the tequila comes from.
Instructions
Squeeze the lime juice the same day, ideally just before you build.
Make agave syrup by stirring agave nectar with an equal amount of water.
Fill a rocks glass with fresh cubed ice.
Add the tequila, lime juice and agave syrup to a shaker.
Fill the shaker with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Strain over the fresh ice and garnish with a lime wheel.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification, with the agave nectar cut one to one with water; method ours). Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Use 100% agave tequila. Mixto can include as much as 49% sugars from other sources, and with no liqueur to cover it, its thin, hot finish shows at once. Cut the agave nectar one to one with water before you measure it. Neat nectar is thick and slow to mix, and at 30ml it would make the drink twice as sweet. Salt is optional. The IBA garnishes with lime only; if you want salt, rim half the outside of the glass so each sip is a choice.
Behind the Tommy’s Margarita
Flavour Profile
The Origin
Julio Bermejo created the drink in 1990 at Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco. He dropped the triple sec from the house margarita, sweetened it with agave instead and built it on 100% agave tequila.
It spread from bartender to bartender under the restaurant’s name, and the IBA later added it to its New Era official list.
Why No Triple Sec
Orange liqueur does two jobs in a classic Margarita: it sweetens, and it adds orange. The orange sits over the tequila and pads it, which flatters a weak spirit and hides a good one.
Agave syrup sweetens and adds little else beyond a faint vegetal note from the same plant. The drink dries out around the spirit, and you taste the bottle you bought.
Margarita, Grand Margarita and Tommy’s Margarita compared
Margarita (IBA)
- Spec
- 50ml tequila, 20ml triple sec, 15ml lime
- Strength
- About 2.8 UK units
- Character
- Sharp, bright, agave-led
Grand Margarita (IBA)
- Spec
- 45ml tequila, 30ml Grand Marnier, 15ml lime
- Strength
- About 3.0 UK units
- Character
- Rounder, with oak and dried fruit
Tommy’s Margarita (IBA)
- Spec
- 60ml tequila, 30ml lime, 30ml agave syrup
- Strength
- About 2.4 UK units
- Character
- No liqueur; tequila and lime in front
| Drink | Spec | Strength | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margarita (IBA) | 50ml tequila, 20ml triple sec, 15ml lime | About 2.8 UK units | Sharp, bright, agave-led |
| Grand Margarita (IBA) | 45ml tequila, 30ml Grand Marnier, 15ml lime | About 3.0 UK units | Rounder, with oak and dried fruit |
| Tommy’s Margarita (IBA) | 60ml tequila, 30ml lime, 30ml agave syrup | About 2.4 UK units | No liqueur; tequila and lime in front |
Reading the Label
Tequila sold as 100% agave comes entirely from blue agave. Mixto need only be 51% agave, with the rest from other sugars, and the word rarely appears on the bottle.
In a drink this plain the difference shows. Mixto is thinner and sweeter, with a hot finish, and the pepper and green notes the Tommy’s is built around are mostly missing.
How to Serve It
Shaken hard, then strained onto fresh ice in a rocks glass, with a lime wheel. Salt is optional; half a rim leaves the choice to each sip.
For a rounder drink with a cognac-based orange liqueur, the Grand Margarita keeps the lime at 15ml and adds 30ml of Grand Marnier.
Make it at home
The Spirit
TequilaTequila is a Mexican spirit distilled from the blue agave plant, made only in Jalisco and parts of four other states, and most bottles are 38 to 40% ABV; our recipes use 40%. A label reading 100% agave means every sugar came from the plant, where plain tequila needs only 51%. Most of our 26 tequila recipes ask for 100% agave blanco.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a Tommy’s Margarita different?
Who invented the Tommy’s Margarita?
Does it take a salt rim?
How strong is a Tommy’s Margarita?
Agave syrup or agave nectar?
How does it compare with a classic Margarita?
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Margarita
A Margarita is 50ml of 100% agave blanco tequila, 20ml of triple sec and 15ml of fresh lime juice, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe with half the rim salted, with a lime wheel. About 2.8 UK units. Strained over fresh ice in a rocks glass, it is the same drink, longer and cooler. These are the IBA’s measures. The lime is the smallest pour, so the agave leads and the orange liqueur rounds it: the drink tastes of tequila first and sour second. Who made it first is disputed. Carlos Herrera at Rancho La Gloria near Tijuana in 1938, Margarita Sames in Acapulco in 1948 and the bartender Santos Cruz in the same year are all named, and none is proven. The first known printed recipe is in Esquire, December 1953.
Spicy Margarita
A Spicy Margarita is 60ml of blanco tequila, 30ml of fresh lime juice and 15ml of agave syrup, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds with three slices of jalapeño muddled in the tin, then double strained over fresh ice in a margarita glass with half a salt rim and a jalapeño slice on the edge. About 2.4 UK units. It is a Tommy’s Margarita with heat. The agave syrup goes in straight from the bottle, so 15ml carries the same sugar as the Tommy’s 30ml of nectar cut with water, and the tequila and lime match it measure for measure. No single creator is recorded. Chilli and tequila are an old pairing, and the muddled-jalapeño version is a modern bar habit rather than a classic with a birth date. The seeds decide the heat: out for warmth, in for fire.
Paloma
A Paloma is 50ml of blanco tequila, 5ml of fresh lime juice and a pinch of salt over ice in a highball, topped with 100ml of pink grapefruit soda and stirred gently once. Those are the IBA’s measures. We salt half the rim and add a grapefruit slice and a lime wheel. About 2.0 UK units. Paloma is Spanish for dove. It is a Mexican tequila highball, made there with a grapefruit soda such as Squirt or Jarritos, and its first maker is unknown. The soda does most of the work. It brings the grapefruit, the sugar and the fizz in one pour, so the recipe needs no syrup and only a little lime. The pinch of salt in the drink softens the grapefruit’s bitter edge and lets the agave through.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026