How to Make Toma Detroit's Oaxacan Spring Cocktail

How to Make Toma Detroit’s Oaxacan Spring Cocktail

The team behind Corktown’s forthcoming tequila tasting room offers an at-home taste of Oaxaca, Mexico

Lyndsay Green and Photographs by Kailey Howell

May 26, 2020

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COVID-19 UPDATE: José Maldonado and the Toma Detroit team are aiming for a late 2020 opening. However, given the statewide mandate to temporarily shutter all restaurants, it’s unclear when the tasting room will open its doors. “With the current situation, we were really pushing�� for sooner, but we cannot forecast how long this government shutdown will be,” Maldonado says. Visit for updates.

With Toma Detroit, a team of southwest Detroit natives will bring Mexican libations and small bites to the heart of Corktown. At press time, Tony Lopez, Corey McIntosh, and José Maldonado — also proprietors of Peso Bar, the latest Mexican bar and restaurant addition to the Hubbard Richard neighborhood — were securing funding to break ground on Toma’s Michigan Avenue location. “Mexican culture is thriving in Detroit with over 50,000 Latin American residents,” says Maldonado, Toma’s project manager. “A tequila-mezcal tasting room will showcase Mexican culture through one of their most famous exports — agave.”

Maldonado says the menu will consist of more than 100 tequila and mezcal offerings and Toma staffers will provide guided flights, educating diners on where spirits originate and the types of agave they’re made from. “The tasting room will help bridge the gap between Mexicantown and Corktown communities,” he says. “It’s about educating Detroit on agave and the spirits made from it.”

Head bartender Leonardo Rivera Negron offers a taste of what’s to come with this recipe for Oaxacan Spring, a refreshing cocktail off of the projected opening menu. “I wanted to highlight the awesome vegetal and smoky flavors mezcal brings and pair them with the beautiful season of spring,” Rivera Negron says. ¡��ܻ�! ��