Paloma

When most people think of Tequila, their first thought is probably taking shots in their teenage years, likely followed by a Margarita. But while a decent Tequila can definitely be enjoyed on its own, and Margaritas are a great drink too, today I want to share my favourite way to enjoy Tequila: the Paloma.

Like many cocktails, there is plenty of discussion around who created this drink, where it came from and how best to drink it. I’m not going to go in-depth about the history right now, but I am going to talk about my time playing around with The Paloma and how I landed on my favourite recipe.

At its core the Paloma isn’t too far from a Margarita. It’s Tequila, lime juice and then a citrus modifier. For a Margarita that modifier is orange liqueur; for a Paloma it’s grapefruit soda.
The arguments start at what grapefruit soda to use. Should it be fresh juice and soda water? Or a commercial soda? If it’s commercial, people will argue over what brand. The recipe below is my favourite result from lots of experimentation. From mixing juices and adding soda - lots of different brands of soda - to even making my own soda with clarified juices and acids, in the end it was a combination of two different styles of making the drink that gave me my favourite recipe.

My Perfect Paloma

• 60ml Blanco Tequila (Definitely opt for something 100% Agave)

• 20ml Fresh Pink Grapefruit Juice

• 10ml Fresh Lime Juice

• 1 Barspoon Agave Nectar

• 2 Dashes 20% Saline Solution*

  Rim half of a tall glass with lime juice, then salt. Personally I’m not a big fan of salt rims so I skip this step, but give it a go at least once and find your preference. If you don’t like it, drink from the non-rimmed side and skip it next time.
  Now shake all the ingredients with ice until cold, then double strain into a tall glass over lots of ice.

• Top with about 50ml Commercial Grapefruit Soda (For this recipe I used Ting)

  Give a brief stir to combine everything. Then garnish with a wedge of grapefruit.

*For the 20% salt solution simply take 20g of salt, and dissolve it into 80g of water. Pop this in a dasher bottle and you’re good to go.
If you don’t have a dasher bottle spare or don’t want to make a solution just add a pinch of salt to the drink in its place.