Mixers

Agave Syrup

Agave syrup is a sweetener made from the juice of the agave plant, heated or treated with enzymes until its stored sugars break down, leaving a syrup that is mostly fructose. Our recipes pour it neat in the Spicy Margarita and the Picante de la Casa, and cut 1:1 with warm water by volume in the Tommy’s Margarita; diluted, it keeps two weeks in the fridge.

Quick Facts

ABV0% ABV

Legal categoryNon-alcoholic

Flavour Strengthmedium

Our keeping timeNeat: months in the cupboard. Diluted 1:1: two weeks refrigerated.

Storage

The pantry for the bottle, the fridge for the diluted mix, which we keep for two weeks.

Allergens

None of the 14 listed allergens.

The ingredient

About Agave Syrup

Flavour Profile

Primary Flavours

AgaveCleanSweet

Tasting Notes

Neutral-clean sweetness with a faint vegetal echo of the plant: sugar with an agave accent rather than a flavour of its own.

It is cooked agave juice, mostly fructose

The syrup starts as juice pressed from the core of the plant, the same piña that tequila is distilled from. The juice is filtered and then heated, or treated with enzymes, to break the long fructose chains it stores into simple sugars, and concentrated until it pours a little thinner than honey. Blue agave syrup ends up about three quarters sugar, with fructose well ahead of glucose: that is why it tastes sweeter than sugar syrup at the same measure. Agave nectar is the same product under a softer name.

The Tommy’s Margarita made it a bar staple

Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, founded in 1965 by Tommy and Elmy Bermejo, calls itself the birthplace of the Tommy’s Margarita: tequila, lime and agave, with no orange liqueur. The IBA now lists it. Our recipe cuts the agave 1:1 with water, while the Spicy Margarita and Mezcal Margarita pour it straight, and the Picante de la Casa takes the most of all.

Agave syrup as our recipes pour it

Tommy’s Margarita

Measure: 30ml
Form: Diluted 1:1 by volume
Agave in the glass: About 15ml

Picante de la Casa

Measure: 20ml
Form: Neat
Agave in the glass: 20ml

Spicy Margarita

Measure: 15ml
Form: Neat
Agave in the glass: 15ml

Mezcal Margarita

Measure: 15ml
Form: Neat
Agave in the glass: 15ml

Añejo Old Fashioned

Measure: 7.5ml
Form: Light agave syrup
Agave in the glass: 7.5ml

Oaxacan Old Fashioned

Measure: 5ml
Form: Neat, one barspoon
Agave in the glass: 5ml

Drink	Measure	Form	Agave in the glass
Tommy’s Margarita	30ml	Diluted 1:1 by volume	About 15ml
Picante de la Casa	20ml	Neat	20ml
Spicy Margarita	15ml	Neat	15ml
Mezcal Margarita	15ml	Neat	15ml
Añejo Old Fashioned	7.5ml	Light agave syrup	7.5ml
Oaxacan Old Fashioned	5ml	Neat, one barspoon	5ml

Neat in the cupboard, diluted in the fridge

We keep neat agave for months once opened, at room temperature. Cut 1:1 with warm water it pours more easily and measures cleanly, but it then has enough free water to spoil, so it goes in the fridge and keeps two weeks, the same as simple syrup. Label the diluted bottle: it is half the strength of the neat one and looks the same. Light agave suits tequila and mezcal sours; the darker grades belong in stirred drinks, if anywhere.

Using it

Using Agave Syrup

Usage

Neat, 5 to 20ml: a barspoon in the Oaxacan Old Fashioned, 15ml in the Spicy and Mezcal Margaritas, 20ml in the Picante de la Casa. Diluted 1:1, 30ml in the Tommy’s Margarita, which is 15ml of agave. Read the line for which form it means.

House Recipe

Ratio1:1 by volume (agave syrup to warm water)

MakesAbout 200ml

Our keeping timeTwo weeks refrigerated

Ingredients

100ml light agave syrup
100ml warm water

Method

Stir the agave syrup into the warm water until evenly mixed.
Cool, bottle and label it as diluted, with the date.
Refrigerate it.

Food safety

Diluted, it no longer keeps the way the bottle does: refrigerate it, and discard it if it clouds or fizzes.

Pro Tip

If an agave drink tastes sweet but flat, cut the syrup by 5ml rather than adding lime. Fructose reads sweeter than sugar, so a small overpour shows more than the same overpour of simple syrup would.

Top Tips

Check the line before pouring: our Tommy’s Margarita uses agave cut 1:1 with water, most of the others pour it neat.
Buy light agave syrup for margaritas. Amber and dark carry a caramel note that crowds lime.
Label a diluted bottle as diluted. It looks like the neat syrup and is half as strong.
Keep the neat bottle in the cupboard and the diluted one in the fridge, where it keeps two weeks.

Possible Substitutions

Simple Syrup: works everywhere, loses the like-with-like logic
Honey Syrup: warmer and more floral

Production Method

Juice from the core of the agave plant, filtered, then heated or treated with enzymes to break its stored fructans into simple sugars, and concentrated to a syrup. Light, amber and dark grades differ in how far they are processed.

Go further

More to explore

Common Questions

What is agave syrup?

A syrup made from the juice of the agave's core, the piña, which is filtered and heated or treated with enzymes until its stored sugars break down, then concentrated. Blue agave syrup is about three quarters sugar, most of it fructose, which tastes sweeter than ordinary sugar. It is sold as agave nectar too; the two names mean the same product.

Is agave syrup good for margaritas?

It is the sweetener in the Tommy’s Margarita, which takes out the orange liqueur and sweetens tequila with the same plant it was made from. Our Spicy Margarita and Mezcal Margarita use it too, neat, at 15ml. A margarita made with triple sec is a different drink, not a worse one.

Should I dilute agave syrup?

Only when the recipe says so. Our Tommy’s Margarita cuts it 1:1 with warm water by volume, so 30ml of diluted syrup carries 15ml of agave; most of our other agave lines pour it neat from the bottle at smaller measures. Diluted, it pours and measures more easily, but we then keep it in the fridge.

How much agave syrup replaces simple syrup?

Neat, about half the measure, because it is much stronger than a 1:1 sugar syrup and fructose tastes sweeter. Diluted 1:1 with water, it stands in at roughly the same measure. Either way, taste before the second drink: agave brands differ, and a little too much shows quickly.

Light or amber agave syrup?

Light for margaritas and anything with lime. It is processed least and tastes of little but sweetness with a faint green note. Amber and dark are cooked further and carry caramel, which can suit a stirred agave drink such as the Añejo Old Fashioned but muddies a bright sour.

How long does agave syrup keep?

We keep it neat for months in the cupboard after opening, as its water content is too low for spoilage. Diluted 1:1 it loses that protection and keeps two weeks in the fridge, like simple syrup. Throw the diluted bottle away if it clouds or fizzes.

Sources.

Correct as of 19 October 2026.

Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant (tommysmexican.com), “Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant” (owner’s page: founded 1965 by Tommy and Elmy Bermejo; the birthplace of the Tommy’s Margarita).
Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant (tommysmargarita.com), “Tommy’s Margarita Mix” (owner’s page: San Francisco; in the Bermejo family since 1965; sweetened only with agave nectar, no orange liqueur).

Make something

Made with Agave Syrup

Featured In These Cocktails

Tommy’s Margarita Picante de la Casa Spicy Margarita Mezcal Margarita Oaxacan Old Fashioned Añejo Old Fashioned

Often Used With

Updated 19 October 2026

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