By The Tahona Editorial Team
Celebrating Six Decades of the World’s Best Margarita: A Tribute to Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant
Margarita Day: Not Your Grandma’s Margarita
We are pretty sure you have already practiced your perfect Margarita enough! This time, we are drawing inspiration from other cocktails to create Margaritas with twists.
It is time to celebrate Margarita Day once again and let our bars and restaurants dress up for the occasion with the most famous cocktail in the world, a true global icon of mixology.
We have already paid tribute to Julio Bermejo’s Tommy’s Margarita, taken over Great Britain and its iconic bars to celebrate it, and even glorified our Margarita al Pastor. And in 2026, we are celebrating its day in a slightly different way. We are pretty sure you have already practiced your perfect Margarita enough.
This time, we are drawing inspiration from other cocktails to create Margaritas with bitter, floral, spiced, and, why not, umami-driven twists.
From Breakfast Martini to Breakfast Margarita
Salvatore Calabrese, known as “The Maestro,” lives between the bars of the Donovan Bar at Brown’s Hotel and the Velvet Bar at the Corinthia. We even had the chance to host him during his visit to the Altos house, alongside other tequila legends.
The point is, we all know Salvatore is a master. Elegant, sophisticated, and widely admired for his classical technique applied to modern mixology, he is one of the most influential bartenders in contemporary cocktail culture.
Back in 1996, Salvatore was having breakfast with his wife when, while spreading marmalade on a slice of toast, he had an idea.
He combined a spoonful of bitter orange marmalade with a dash of gin, giving birth to the Breakfast Martini. Now considered a modern classic, the marmalade’s bittersweet flavor inspired him to incorporate it into the cocktail.
The Breakfast Martini combines gin, orange liqueur, lemon juice, and a spoonful of orange marmalade, creating a dry, citrusy, and slightly bitter profile with texture and depth.
Inspired by this recipe, we invite you to create a Margarita that breaks the mold. Its profile could be more aromatic and slightly bitter thanks to the marmalade.
If you incorporate this idea into a Margarita, you could replace or complement the orange liqueur with marmalade, resulting in a drink with greater body and texture, a more fragrant sweetness, and subtle bitter notes.
These notes balance blanco tequila beautifully and might just remind you of a very London-style breakfast.
Margarita del Mar
What if we gave the classic Mexican Margarita a saline twist and explored umami, the fifth taste?
The most famous umami cocktail in the world already exists and appears on menus everywhere: the Bloody Mary.
Its base is tomato juice, one of the richest natural sources of glutamates, which are responsible for umami flavor. Add Worcestershire sauce, celery, salt, pepper, and Tabasco, and you get a full-on explosion of flavor. That is umami.
This is how the fifth taste became part of modern mixology, inspiring cocktails based on broths, mushrooms, seaweed, soy, and of course, tomato. When tomato juice is clarified, it becomes a filtered, transparent, clean, and elegant liquid with rounder flavors and a silky texture.
So a clarified tomato Margarita with lime juice doesn’t sound bad at all. It brings a soft, fresh umami note while keeping the refreshing character that defines a Margarita. Tequila, as the base spirit, maintains the drink’s warmth and structure.
You can finish it with a half rim of nori seaweed salt and a few drops of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco sauce. Clean, refreshing, and unmistakably Margarita.
Floral Margarita (No Daisies Included)
Even though the traditional Margarita does not include floral ingredients, they can work beautifully.
Imagine crème de violette, the star of the Aviation, combined with lavender syrup, lime juice, and blanco tequila.
Or try pairing blanco tequila with elderflower liqueur, lychee syrup, and a ginger salt rim.
Rose water or rose syrup also pairs naturally with a classic Margarita when you want to celebrate in a different way.
When it comes to garnish, a couple of fresh basil leaves can give the classic Margarita an unexpected, aromatic twist.
Spiced Margarita (Without Using Chili)
To finish, blanco tequila pairs wonderfully with pineapple juice and a cinnamon or cardamom syrup. Add lime juice and a few dashes of bitters, and you will get a curious but delicious combination.And let’s not forget quince paste (known locally as ate) syrup, delicately balanced with a touch of mustard. It brings acidity and a subtle heat. Add a bit of black pepper, lime juice, simple syrup, and our star ingredient, tequila, and you will end up with a bold proposal that is guaranteed to find its own group of fans.
