A blanco tequila lengthened with tart-sweet grapefruit soda over a squeeze of lime and a pinch of salt, it drinks long, bright and faintly saline, the agave's green, peppery edge carried on a fizz of bittersweet citrus. The salt sharpens the grapefruit and the lime keeps the sweetness in check, so it reads as a taller, more refreshing cousin to the Margarita — built right in the glass and best drunk ice-cold.
Garnish: Lime Wheel
Built · Highball · On the Rocks
build
Pour the tequila into a highball glass and squeeze in the fresh lime juice.
add
Add ice cubes and a pinch of salt.
top
Fill up with chilled pink grapefruit soda.
stir
Stir gently to combine.
garnish
Garnish with a lime wheel or slice.
The Paloma is a Mexican drink whose beginnings belong to folklore rather than record: no single inventor is documented, and the creation stories that circulate have never been pinned down. What it became is clearer — Mexico's everyday tequila highball, now listed by the IBA as an official cocktail built from 100% agave tequila, fresh lime, a pinch of salt and pink grapefruit soda. Even its name comes with two competing explanations, one pointing to the dove and the other to the pomelo.