Picante de la Casa cocktail from Soho House US
An icon of sunshine and good times, the Margarita has been the inspiration for countless variations over the years. Itself a riff on a classic cocktail – the Daisy – it has spanned the globe in blended, fruity, and spicy forms, and many more besides.
‘The Margarita is the perfect combination of sweet, sour and salty, all in a few ingredients,’ says Erin Davey, head of bars at Soho House US. ‘Its simplicity allows people to easily adapt it to their personal taste.’
‘People love them because they are refreshing and super enjoyable, so any twist already has a bit of a head start,’ agrees Marina Juszczyk, head bartender of London bar Soma.
At its most traditional, the Margarita consists of tequila, lime juice and an orange liqueur, or triple sec, such as Cointreau, and usually sporting a salt rim. Unlike some classic cocktails where variations sometimes switch out the core ingredients, Margarita twists invariably involve the addition of compatible flavours. ‘You generally have to keep the lime and tequila at a minimum,’ says Jake Burger of The Portobello Star in London’s Notting Hill.
A case in point is the Tommy’s Margarita, created by Julio Bermejo of Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco to highlight the flavour of tequila in the drink. Arguably the most prevalent contemporary Margarita twist, it’s made with just tequila, lime juice and agave syrup, and has become the starting point of many modern takes on the
