Agabar, the Mallorcan cocktail bar that serves more than 4,000 margaritas a year

"Tequila has been to blame for everything good that has happened to us."

Cristian Balta and Gabriela Tandazo, aged 32 and 31, repeat it a few times while shaking cocktail shakers and recommending concoctions from the other side of the Atlantic in Agabar, the place that despite its youth has won over customers who fly to Mallorca to try many of its tasty drinks.

Located at number 14 Carrer de la Fàbrica, one of those picturesque streets with which Palma de Mallorca surprises the traveler from time to time —pedestrian, with low houses on either side, and full of restaurants of all kinds—, this business resolutely bets on tequilas, mezcales, raicillas and many classic cocktails given a slight twist.

“We have tried to offer the most beautiful part of Mexico.

In distillates they have nothing to envy the French”, says Balta.

View of the interior of Agabar from its upper floor, where you can see its impressive wall of bottles. Vicens Gimenez

For this they have managed to create their own versions.

For example, turning the popular

— a modern classic that evolves a

with a colorful red wine top — into a cocktail with Mallorcan wine and tequila, or appropriating

like a

a tropical version of our gin and tonic, with tequila, grapefruit and lemon soda

, of which they offer up to six different reviews.

"We want people to feel comfortable with our cocktails and to be able to enjoy them without thinking that they are inaccessible or something strange," says Tandazo.

Balta and Tandazo have worked hard to reach the current sweet moment they are living, awarded at the last FIBAR, the most important fair in the sector in Spain, as Best Opening of 2022. “We met a decade ago learning at the House of Mixology [la training school for

of Luis Inchaurraga].

At that time he worked in a nightclub in Carabanchel and arrived with little sleep ”, recalls Balta.

"I remember him with a pack of Red Bull cans to endure the hard days we had," Tandazo points out.

The Inchaurraga workshop, located in the Madrid neighborhood of Pacífico, had just opened and was already a benchmark for the mixtures sector.

“You entered there at nine in the morning and stayed until eight in the evening, you discovered the reality of day-to-day life for a whole week.

Clean your station, learn about distillates, tasting.

It was the practice of a bar and not just the theory of cocktails," says Tandazo, an Ecuadorian who landed in Madrid at the age of nine, trained at a school in the Embajadores area and who quickly began to make a name for herself in the world of bar.

“My first years were making mojitos like crazy while you took out an entrecote and made a coffee with milk.

Crush lime, mint and so on without stopping.

I spent two years in a place in the Plaza de Canalejas ”, she describes.

Grapefruit garnish that finishes decorating her Sexy Paloma. Vicens Gimenez

However, with Balta he continued to maintain contact.

“I spent seven years at the Hard Rock Café, and I also began to participate in cocktail competitions, doing fancy things and visiting some countries.

But that was very hard, you had to pay all the expenses and you didn't always win", explains Balta, who at the age of 14 traveled from his native Romania to the Spanish capital, where he has been champion and runner-up in Spain several times in the category of

or making a show of serving cocktails.

The lives of these two migrants, lovers of cocktails and Mexican spirits, crossed again in Mallorca.

"I told him that he had to come to Palma and work with me," says Tandazo.

This is how the two came hand in hand at Nicolás, a cocktail bar with a pedigree, and a spectacular bottle maker, which allowed them to test skills and meet his other partner, a Mexican with several hospitality businesses on the island.

In December 2021, they opened Agabar with a groundbreaking concept and well-crafted cocktails, as well as an extensive list in which tequilas, mezcales, raicillas, bacanoras and sotoles shine.

Agave distillates that are increasingly in demand and with a careful history behind each one, as they are in charge of communicating at all times.

Cristian Balta and Gabriela Tandazo toast in front of the mural that shows a wrestler, made by hand in Valencia, on one of the walls of Agabar.Vicens Gimenez

Among the signature cocktails there are also many successes, such as the

.

“It was one of the first recipes we created.

It is a version of a mojito that goes with tepache, a fermented drink that we make at home”, describes Tandazo.

Or the one they call Ensemble, a version of a

, the new classic created in the 2000s by the South African mixologist Douglas Ankrah, who makes it with 400 Conejos mezcal, pineapple, passion fruit and citrus.

His michelada also has that special and characteristic touch of them.

“We traveled a lot trying different micheladas until we found the one that best suited our tastes, very tasty and cool,” Tandazo declares of a mix, in which they use Valentina sauce and three Mexican salts, worm, wide chili and grasshopper.

One of their most demanded drinks is the

, which they honor every Thursday by serving a selection of six cocktails signed by them.

Among the most popular versions is the

a cocktail made with Unión mezcal and Ancho Verde.

“That gives it the vegetable touch.

Then it goes with pineapple, citrus, grapefruit soda [Thomas Henry] and a very special Chicatana ant salt, a delicacy that is only harvested three days a year.”

Bottle of Thomas Henry grapefruit soda, the favorite for them to make their different pigeonsVicens Gimenez

In Agabar there is also a lot of technique behind it, although they do not pretend that it overshadows what is important: the flavor and finesse of all the drinks.

“I am Lady Clarificación”, Tandazo is proud, highlighting this technique, which shows many crystalline cocktails full of energy.

“There are many drinks where we use it.

For example, in

, our version of the New York Sour, with Ojo de Tigre mezcal, volcano tequila, agave honey and Mallorcan wine”.

A clean and complex drink, which changes as you take sips and is sweet, citric and even astringent.

Everything is possible in Agabar.

The Cocktail: Green Margarita

Since Agabar opened, they have sold 49,407 cocktails.

Of these, in the year 2022, 4,430 were green daisies.

“And probably, if we add up all the daisies, it will be more than 10,000”, answers Balta.

Their star cocktail is special because of its flavor, since they add a sauce that is usually added to al pastor tacos with pineapple, cilantro and jalapeño.

“It is a spicy, sweet, citrus and herbal sauce.

To that we add white tequila and Merlet, which is a triple sec that we really like”.

Gabriela Tandazo holds the Green Margarita that they prepare in Agabar.Vicens Gimenez

First step, fill the shaker with ice. Vicens Gimenez

Add 25 milliliters of green sauce based on pineapple, jalapeño, cilantro and lime.Vicens Gimenez

Add 30 milliliters of freshly squeezed lime juice.Vicens Gimenez

Add 50 milliliters of Volcán de mi Tierra Blanco tequila plus 15 milliliters of Merlet triple sec Vicens Gimenez

A spoonful of Vicens Gimenez agave syrup

Sprinkle half the glass with chingona salt (worm, wide chile and grasshopper). Vicens Gimenez

Shake vigorously and strain into a margarita glass.Vicens Gimenez

The bottle: Raicillas

When Tandazo and Balta are asked to highlight some bottles that can be seen on the shelves behind the bar, and that reach up to the ceiling, they launch themselves without problem to list many of them.

The curious thing is that most of them are raicillas, a distillate obtained from the maguey plant.

“Most of the raicilla is produced in the southwestern part of the Mexican state of Jalisco and Nayarit,” the two comment in unison, like someone who has learned their lesson very well.

Then comes the passion.

“This Poison Spikes is spiritual.

Don Gerardo is a very big person, but when he talks to you he does it with great tenderness.

He makes his raicilla with a maguey of the Maximilian variety.

He calls them lechuguillas, because they look like lettuce”, he recalls his visit to this producer, which he was able to carry out with Grupo Entrecompas, one of the most select importers of mezcal and its derivatives on the peninsula.

Others that cannot be missing from his selection are Lobo de la sierra, a raicilla with a melon aroma and distilled in steel stills, and Mezonte Japo, which uses yellow, ashen and green maguey.

Bottle of Lobo de la Sierra with lactic notes, aftertaste of pepper and aroma of melon.Vicens Gimenez

Agabar Cocktail Bar

Address: calle de la Fàbrica, 14, A. Palma de Mallorca.

Telephone: 971 37 65 11.

Menu: menu.agabar.es

Hours: Monday to Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. and Friday to Sunday from 4:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.