• It is named after La Paloma (“The Dove”), the popular folk song composed in the early 1860s. Some say it was created by the legendary Don Javier Delgado Corona, owner and bartender of La Capilla, in Tequila, Mexico, well known as the founders of the “Batanga” Tequila, Lime, Cola & salt on the rim.
• It is believed that there was a restaurant in California around 1999, which was serving it as the “Paloma”. The name of that restaurant? Tlaquepaque. Truth is that Tlaquepaque could have certainly helped popularize the drink’s name, but it’s unlikely that it came up with it as we have many books that had already identified “The Paloma” as “virtually the national drink of Guadalajara.” By the end of that decade this drink was filtering into the United States.
• But for something superior, you need to use another bottled, flavored ‘’sugar-water’’ of United States origin! The grapefruit soda, an American invention of the 1930s, which came to Mexico in 1955. I suspect it was first mixed with tequila in 1955, too, but evidence is lacking. By the 1970s, its makers were advertising the combination in the United States (“Tequila has appeal with grapefruit soda”), but it still hadn’t really caught on. Only in the 1990s did it find its footing.
• Others have it as the “Lazy Man’s Margarita.” Tequila, lime juice, grapefruit soda and ice, in a tall, salt-rimmed glass. By the end of the evening, “bottles of tequila and endless bottles of grapefruit soda crowd tables for self-service, and… fancy salt-rimmed glasses are long forgotten.” Over the next few years, the Paloma gradually radiated out of the Southwest to all the other corners of this large and thirsty land a Mexican drink that would not exist without American technology.
• Very simple, balanced, super refreshing. Sweet, sour and salty with a hint of bitterness from the grapefruit and the grapefruit wedge you need for garnish, and if you use a good tequila, a whisper of umami compliments the flavor. There is no better long drink to have. The United States and Mexico are tied together whether each side likes it or not. It’s only a drink, to be sure, but the Paloma is also a pretty good example of the benefits of accepting that fact and thanks to that we can enjoy & celebrate our greatest moments.