Who doesn’t love a good paloma?! Add in strawberries and it’s a berry good paloma!

If you know me in real life, you likely know me as a bourbon chick. While that’s totally true, I also rock hard with tequila! If you’re also a tequila drinker, you’ll like this one.

If you make this berry good paloma recipe, I’m pretty sure you’ll be adding it to your list of regular mixes! It screams summer, and is super refreshing.

If you’re not a tequila fan, I imagine this could also work with vodka. Don’t hold me to that though as I haven’t made it with vodka. Talk to me next week, and I’ll have an opinion for you. If you don’t love grapefruit, let me just say you’re missing out. However, you may want to check out my Spa Day Mule recipe.

The Strawberry Syrup

I tend to buy fruit and let it go bad. I know, I know! This is me trying to do better these days. Before I let my last batch of strawberries go to waste, I went thumbing through my cookbooks. I ran across my Cocktail Codex cocktail book from Death and Co, and remembered they shared syrup recipes in there. Bam! A simple strawberry syrup recipe: equal weights berries and sugar. I strained mine, but it’s not necessary if you don’t mind seeds. That’s it! This syrup is thick, sweet and delicious. It should last about two weeks in the fridge. I recommend it and the book!

The Paloma & Berry Good Paloma

The paloma cocktail is the national apertif of Mexico. It’s supposed to spark the appetite. It definitely sparks my appetite…for another paloma, so I guess that’s accurate.

It’s such a simple and refreshing cocktail which is perfect for the dog days or summer (it’s equally tasty in winter though). The basic recipe is tequila and grapefruit soda. I prefer the versions that add a bit of lime juice, but it also works without it.

In this version, I used grapefruit sparkling water because the strawberry syrup is pretty sweet. The point is that you’ll want that bit of sweetness either from a syrup or soda. I’m on a Casamigos kick at the moment, so that is the blanco tequila I used, but feel free to use what you prefer.

Stir tip: If you don’t want to make the syrup, muddle some strawberries, and use grapefruit soda like San Pelligrino Pompelmo.

The Drink Build

I sliced a grapefruit to have a nice garnish in the glass. I love slices because they add an extra visual element to the cocktail, but they are not necessary. Add ice to your glass. Add your syrup, lime juice and tequila to a shaker with ice. Shake for 10 seconds and strain into a glass. I shake this version because the syrup is a bit thick and needs to be mixed in. Top with sparkling water and garnish.

Salud!

Are palomas your fav? Did you make this strawberry version? I want to know! Leave a comment.