Birth of a classic drink: How the Tommy’s Margarita cocktail was created

One of the big changes Julio Bermejo made with the Tommy's Margarita was to use 100% Agave tequilas.

It's not often you get to drink a genuine classic cocktail made by the creator of the drink himself. Recently, Julio Bermejo, creator of the world famous Tommy’s Margarita, was in town to hold a seminar about tequila at Kuala Lumpur cocktail bar Omakase + Appreciate.

One of the world’s foremost experts on tequila, Bermejo is the beverage manager at the iconic Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, which was started in 1965 by his parents, Elmy and Tommy. Bermejo started working at the restaurant when he was five, and is instrumental in turning it into one of the most famous tequila bars in the world, as well as contributing to the rise of 100% blue agave tequila in the United States.