Highballs and long drinks · Tequila · IBA official
Bittersweet grapefruit, a whisper of salt and bright agave, all fizzing over ice. The Margarita gets the fame abroad, yet in Mexico this is the tequila drink people reach for, and one sip explains why.
1¾ oz
blanco tequila 100 % agave blancoe.g. Olmeca Altos · Patrón · Don Julio · Espolòn · El Jimador
¼ oz
lime juice
1 pinch of
salt
3½ oz
pink grapefruit soda well chilled
Garnish: Lime wedge, salt rim optional · Ice: Ice cubes
Paloma
Bright and bittersweet with juicy grapefruit, clean agave and a subtle saltiness that makes the fruit pop. Light, fizzy and very refreshing.
The Paloma, Spanish for dove, is often called Mexico's most popular tequila cocktail. Its origins are obscure: no reliable record names an inventor, and the stories that circulate are hard to verify. What is certain is that the drink depends on grapefruit soda, widely sold in Mexico under brands such as Squirt and Jarritos, which made it an easy, everyday serve in bars and homes.
Outside Mexico it long lived in the Margarita's shadow, but the craft cocktail movement embraced it, and many bars now make it with fresh grapefruit juice, lime, agave syrup and soda water instead of commercial soda. The International Bartenders Association added the Paloma to its New Era Drinks, with tequila, a little lime, a pinch of salt and pink grapefruit soda.
Paloma is Spanish for dove.
Yes. Use fresh grapefruit juice with a little agave syrup and top with soda water for the bubbles.
A 100 % agave blanco. Reposado also works and gives a rounder drink.
The perfect sound
A bright grapefruit afternoon in a small Mexican town.
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