#80 Julio Bermejo - 61 Years of Tommy's, Tequila Production, Margaritas, Mexico, 100% Agave, Dre Masso, Tom Estes

About this episode

Julio Bermejo discusses his journey with Tommy's Mexican Restaurant and the evolution of tequila culture in the U.S.

Julio Bermejo is the owner of Tommy's Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, which is the bar credited by the Wall Street Journal as "the epicentre of tequila in the United States" and the place where the Tommy's Margarita was created in the 90's. In this episode we trace his journey from the family's Yucatecan roots and the early days of a restaurant that didn't even hold a liquor licence until 1972, through his decision in the mid-1980s to go exclusively 100% agave on the well — years before the mainstream caught up — and into the creation of the Blue Agave Club, now with over 7,000 members worldwide. We get into the philosophy behind the Tommy's Margarita itself: why agave syrup replaced triple sec, and how Dre Masso, Henry Besant and others carried the drink into bars globally before it became the first venue-specific cocktail ever added to the IBA Official list. Julio also shares what his early distillery trips taught him, from meetings with Guillermo Romo de la Peña at Herradura, Don Felipe Camarena at Tapatio and Fernando Gonzales at Siete Leguas, to the lesson about never putting your opinions in a tequila menu — as well as his principled stance on regulation and…

People in this episode

Host: Tristan Stephenson

Guest: Julio Bermejo

Topics covered

• tequila production
• Tommy's Margarita
• agave syrup
• restaurant history
• cocktail culture
• post-pandemic business

Keywords

• Tommy's Mexican Restaurant
• tequila
• Margarita
• 100% agave
• Blue Agave Club
• cocktail history
• agave boom
• post-pandemic

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Tommy's Mexican Restaurant, Wall Street Journal, Herradura, Tapatio, Siete Leguas

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