The Paloma

Ask for a tequila drink and most bars reach for the margarita. Ask in Mexico, and as often as not you will get a Paloma — and once you have had a good one, you may never go back.

The Paloma is simplicity itself: 2 oz tequila (blanco or reposado), the juice of half a lime, a pinch of salt, and grapefruit soda to top, built right in a tall glass over ice. The classic uses a grapefruit soda like Squirt or Jarritos; the more ambitious version uses fresh grapefruit juice with a splash of plain soda and a little sugar, which makes a brighter, less sweet drink worth the extra effort on a slow evening.

The salt is not optional, and it is the detail most people miss. A pinch stirred into the drink — or a salted rim if you want the margarita’s theater — pulls the whole thing into focus, sharpening the grapefruit’s bitterness and the tequila’s earthiness against each other. Without it the Paloma is merely pleasant. With it, it sings.

What makes the Paloma the better warm-weather drink is its length. Where a margarita is concentrated and serious, the Paloma is long, fizzy, and endlessly refreshing — a drink built for heat and porches and afternoons that drift into evenings. It is forgiving, too: hard to make badly, easy to make in a pitcher, the rare cocktail that improves the more casual the setting.

Make it on the first genuinely warm night, when something tall and cold and a little bitter is the only thing that sounds right. Reposado adds a faint oaky warmth; blanco keeps it crisp. Either way, it is the drink that will make you wonder why you ever defaulted to the margarita.

A set of tall highball glasses is all the Paloma asks for — a good set is easy to find on Amazon.