055 – Paloma

A Sydney Covid ‘lock-down’ exploration of the lesser know ‘Paloma’ Tequila-based cocktail.

Lock-down has inspired me to explore this cocktail, often mistakenly attributed to famous Mexican Bartender Don Javier. More likely to connected to either the Squirt or Jorittos soda brands.

Make your own ‘mix-at-home’ 2021 #Locktail version of the ‘Paloma’ (‘Dove’) cocktail.

METHOD – Add 60ml Tequila Blanco (100% Agave), 30ml fresh pink grapefruit juice, 15ml fresh lime juice and 10ml of agave syrup into a cocktail shaker with a handful of ice. Shake until very cold (15-20 seconds) and strain into a highball glass over additional ice. Garnish with a grapefruit wedge and top up the glass with grapefruit soda (usually between 40 and 100ml depending on the size of the glass and density of the ice). Option to salt or half-salt the glass’s rim.

HISTORICAL NOTES – The Paloma was NOT created by Don Javier Delgado Corona (1925–2020), known as ‘Don Javier’ who started bartending in 1945 and ran his restaurant and bar called La Capilla (‘The Chapel’) for over 70-years in Tequila, Mexico, until just before his death in 2020.

Don Javier is known for his 1961 creation of the famous ‘La Batanga’ cocktail. He was also renown for mixing cocktails with his signature knife. Many online references credit Don Javier with the creation of the ‘Paloma’ (translation ‘Dove’) cocktail, however that is not correct. Why? Well the answer is simple, when asked if he created the ‘Paloma’, Don Javier categorically said that he did not.

So where did it come from? The answer is no one has yet found a definitive source. Barroom historian and Editor in Chief of the Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, David Wondrich has speculated that it follows 1950 advertising of the soda water Squirt, specifically promoting itself as “a wonderful mixer with tequila, apple jack and sloe gin’. Effectively a cocktail created by an advertising campaign in 1950.

Squirt was created in 1938, but didn’t export to Mexico until 1955. Jarittos soda was created in 1950 but did not initially have a Grapefruit flavour, and the consumption and use of Grapefruit for drinks was not common in Mexico until much later. So if the cocktail was created in Mexico, it most likely used Jarittos and did not included grapefruit. If it was created in the United States, then it was most likely Squirt Soda and more likely to have included grapefruit in the original mix recipe.

It may have come together from both origins or something else entirely, however the most likely source is the progressive development of tequila mixed with Squirt soda, as suggested by their own advertising from 1950 onward.

THE OFFICIAL MIX – The ‘Paloma’ appears in the International Bartender Association’s (IBA) official lists under ‘New Era Drinks’, here. The recipe calls for 50ml Tequila (100% Agave), 5ml fresh lime juice, a pinch of salt, shaken with ice. Strain into a highball glass over ice and fill up with pink grapefruit soda. Garnish with a slice of lime.

TASTING NOTES – The IBA official mix is disappointing, like a low-lime margarita with soda instead of triple sec. Not surprisingly most contemporary mixologists don’t use the IBA recipe and have their own version. I’d like to thank Dan Murphy’s for their recipe, here, and Simon Difford’s recipe, here, as well as Patron Tequila’s recipe, here, all different and all quality recipes that helped with the exploration and also demonstrated the level of divergence with this particular cocktail.

LOCKTAIL CHANGES – I have gone with slightly more Tequila than many of the Paloma recipes, and less sweetness than many. My aim was to combine both the sweet (soda) and sour (fresh fruit) flavours of grapefruit, without adding too much additional sweetness with the Agave. I think this is a cocktail that suits Blanco Tequila better than Reposado Tequila and a limited amount of salt. The end result is similar in balance to Simon Difford’s recipe, just slightly larger in volume and a little more Tequila for a home cocktail (lock-tail).

YOUR LOCKTAIL EXPERIENCE – If you’d rather taste than read, I am progressively building an ingredient list and other sourcing information on this site. I will re-use ingredients where I can (good for my budget too), so that the cost goes down overtime if you are ‘playing at home’.

Let me know what you think.

Cocktails you’d like reinvented.

Recipes you’ve tried and your ‘score’.

This is fifth cocktail from the 1941-1950 bracket of ‘Locktail’ remixes. Full list in the index.