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Benefit from the crisp, citrusy flavour of contemporary grapefruit juice and mezcal on this Mezcal Paloma. This grapefruit cocktail is evenly candy and refreshing, making it a pleasant drink to sip this summer time. There’s no syrup to make so it’s prepared in 5 minutes!

Like my Spanish Gin and Tonic recipe this Mezcal Paloma Cocktail is one you possibly can anticipate to get pleasure from at any of the eating places in Puerto Escondido or Huatulco within the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.
It options the area’s locally-produced agave spirit and pairs completely with all kinds of the scrumptious conventional meals from Oaxaca.
If you happen to’re in Mexico you’d most probably see a mezcal cocktail served in a glass rimmed in sal de gusano (chile worm salt). Nevertheless it’s simply as scrumptious when made with sea salt (just like a margarita ) as on this recipe.
If you happen to’re up for a style journey, I’ve included some native variations that includes chile, salt and floor worms in addition to ants.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe

- Simple grapefruit cocktail made with out syrup. No must boil and funky a easy syrup. This cocktail is prepared in 5 minutes.
- Genuine Mexican mezcal cocktail utilizing soda pop as a substitute of syrup.
- Excellent for a crowd! Really easy to make a giant batch in a pitcher.
- Citrus style that’s refreshing and never too candy.
- Excellent to serve for Cinco de Mayo and summer time patio events or cookouts. Pairs nicely with all of your Latin American favorite recipes.
- Healthful elements. Made with none cocktail mixes or prepackaged elements.
Components in Mezcal Grapefruit Cocktail
All you want are a handful of easy elements to make a grapefruit mezcal cocktail. Right here’s what goes in it:

- Contemporary fruit: Use contemporary lemons and pink grapefruit for the very best citrus flavour.
- Salt: Use fine-grain kosher salt, sea salt or margarita salt to salt the rim of the glass.
- Mezcal: This Mexican spirit made from agave provides a singular flavour to this paloma cocktail. Use a high quality mezcal comparable to espadín or a younger (joven) mezcal.
- Grapefruit juice: Use freshly-squeezed or a high quality store-bought grapefruit juice model, ideally one which’s 100% juice. Low cost juices could be increased in acidity and will include chemical preservatives and components, additional sugar and sodium.
- Soda pop: You should use ginger ale or Squirt, the favored Mexican tender drink. This not solely offers the mezcal cocktail some bubbles but additionally evenly sweetens the drink.
Variations

There are a couple of tasty methods to vary up your Mezcal paloma. Listed here are a few of my favourites:
- If you happen to favor a smoky mezcal cocktail swap the joven mezcal for an anejo (aged) mezcal as a substitute.
- For a spicy mezcal cocktail, use salt combined with tajin, the Mexican lime chile salt. You’ll be able to even purchase it premixed with salt in a particular container to rim glasses.
- Need to get pleasure from an genuine Oaxacan mezcal cocktail? Use the pink, spicy sal de gusano (Oaxacan worm salt) on the rim of the glass as a substitute of salt. It’s made with Oaxacan sea salt, toasted and floor agave worms, and pink chile costeno.
- For a extremely dramatic cocktail, use sal de hormiga chicatana on the rim of the glass. This salt is made with ground-up ants. They’re a treasured delicacy within the spring in Oaxaca and Guatemala when the enormous ants emerge from their nests. Sal de hormiga chicatana has a jet black color (due to the shiny ant shells) which makes for a formidable presentation.
- Have you learnt the spirit, raicilla? It’s the agave spirit from the state of Jalisco. You may make this right into a raicilla cocktail. Substitute the mezcal with raicilla however scale back the amount to 1.5 ounces as raicilla is far more potent than mezcal or tequila. A few of this “Mexican moonshine” could be over 100 proof.
The right way to Make Palomas with Mezcal
Making this mezcal drink with grapefruit is easy. Right here’s a breakdown of all of the steps.
- Pour the kosher salt right into a small dish. Use a lemon wedge with a slit lower in it to dampen the rim of the glass. Flip it over and dip it into the kosher salt.
- Add the ice and mezcal to a shaker glass.

- Add the grapefruit juice.
- And lastly, the ginger ale.

- Squeeze the opposite lemon wedge into the combination after which drop it into the shaker glass. Shake the combination to mix.

- Pour it into the salted glass and garnish with extra lemon wedges and grapefruit slices. Take pleasure in!

The right way to Serve a Mezcal Paloma
This simple grapefruit cocktail is ideal for serving year-round nevertheless it’s good and refreshing making it a superb choice within the scorching summer time months! Right here is a few inspiration for serving it.
Skilled Ideas
- These simple Mezcal palomas could be made straight within the glass. As an alternative of shaking, simply stir earlier than having fun with.
- Be at liberty to customise the quantity of any elements as wanted. You’ll be able to add extra lemon juice if desired or attempt one of many enjoyable variations talked about above.
- The quantity of elements could range in line with the scale of the glass used for serving.
- You’ll be able to combine up palomas in a pitcher for those who’re serving a crowd. I like to recommend serving the ice on the aspect so the drink doesn’t get watered down.
FAQs
The paloma is a tequila-based drink made with lime, tequila, and grapefruit soda. On this recipe, we’re swapping the normal tequila for mezcal. This provides a extra nuanced flavour to the straightforward cocktail.
Mezcal is a transparent liquor that originated in Oaxaca, Mexico. It’s considerably associated to tequila with some small variations. Tequila is made utilizing ONLY blue agave that’s grown in a single specific space of Mexico. Then again, mezcal could be produced from quite a lot of varieties of agave which are grown wherever in Mexico. Its flavour is commonly extra peppery and smoky than tequila.

Extra Enjoyable Cocktails
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Simple Mezcal Paloma (Mezcal Grapefruit Cocktail)
Benefit from the crisp, tart flavour of contemporary grapefruit juice and mezcal on this Mezcal Paloma. This grapefruit cocktail is evenly candy and refreshing, making it a pleasant drink to sip this summer time.
Servings: 2 servings
Energy: 152kcal
Value: $5
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Directions
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Make a slit in a lemon wedge and place it on the glass and barely squeeze across the rim of the glass then flip and dip into kosher salt on a small dish.
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In a shaker add the ice, mezcal, grapefruit juice, and ginger ale.
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Squeeze the opposite lemon wedge into the combination after which drop it in. Shake to mix and pour into glass.
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Garnish with extra lemon wedges or grapefruit and revel in.
Notes
Be at liberty to customise the quantity of any elements as wanted. You’ll be able to add extra lemon juice if desired or attempt one of many enjoyable variations talked about above.
The quantity of elements could range in line with the scale of the glass used for serving.
You’ll be able to combine up palomas in a pitcher for those who’re serving a crowd. I like to recommend serving the ice on the aspect so the drink doesn’t get watered down.
Diet
Energy: 152kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 1g | Fats: 0.3g | Saturated Fats: 0.03g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fats: 0.03g | Sodium: 4mg | Potassium: 245mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 1478IU | Vitamin C: 57mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 0.4mg
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Dividing her time between Canada, Guatemala and Mexico (or the closest tropical seaside), Michele Peterson is the founding father of A Style for Journey. Her award-winning journey and meals writing has appeared in Lonely Planet’s cookbook Mexico: From the Supply, Nationwide Geographic Traveler, Fodor’s and 100+ different publications.
Learn extra about Michele Peterson.