Tommy's Margarita

Tommy’s margarita comes from Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, which Tomás and Elmy Bermejo opened in 1965. Their son Julio Bermejo developed the drink there at some point in the late ’80s. Julio had built the bar’s tequila program around 100% agave tequilas, which were rare in the US at the time. He wanted a margarita that put the tequila at the center rather than burying it under sweet-and-sour mix (which was sickly sweet and artificially flavored at the time) or orange liqueur. So he dropped the triple sec and sweetened with agave nectar, which comes from the same plant as the tequila. The result is just tequila, fresh lime juice and agave, usually served on the rocks.

The drink spread through the bartending community, and since then, Julio became a well-known advocate for better tequila. Today it’s a common order at craft cocktail bars and a standard “modern classic” riff. In some bars, the “Tommy’s style” label is used to cover any margarita built this way, including versions with mezcal, so you may need to specify what you're asking for when you say you want something Tommy's style. Tommy's Mexican Restaurant itself still exists and boasts shelves full of hundreds of tequila variants, with most likely the largest selection of agave spirits in the US.