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Paloma Recipe Round-Up: 20+ Paloma Variations

In my research on the Paloma I have come across many variations on the drink, so I thought I'd link to them here.

Typically the Paloma is made with tequila (always use 100% agave!), grapefruit soda such as Squirt or Jarritos, a squeeze of a lime wedge and a pinch of salt. Esquire's standard recipe is here. A version using fresh grapefruit and soda water is here.

Here are some Paloma variations from around the internet. 

Blood Orange and Thyme Paloma by Airda Molenkamp [recipe]

Nuestra Paloma by Thad Vogler of Beretta, SF. It contains St. Germain, bitters, Cointreau, and grapefruit juice. [recipe]

The Charred Grapefruit Paloma by Warren Bobrow [recipe]

Paloma, Mi Amante by Paul Clarke - A Paloma using strawberry-infused tequila. [recipe]

Paloma Variation - A Paloma using IPA beer, plus tequila, grapefruit cordial, and lime. [mentioned here; no recipe]

Palomita - A Paloma without tequila; just using Coinreau, lime, and grapefruit. [recipe]

Green Palomarita - Mezcal, lime, grapefruit, Chartreuse [recipe]

Dove & Daisy - Tequila, lime, Aperol, orange liqueur, salt, soda water. [recipe]

La Paloma - Grapefruit liqueur, tequila, grapefruit juice, lime, soda. [recipe]

Cantarito - A Paloma variation using lemon, lime, and orange juices in place of the lime squeeze. [recipe]

Paloma Brava by Dushan Zaric - Contains tequila, lime, orange, grapefruit, grapefruit soda, agave nectar, and salt. [recipe]

La Canterita by Ashley Miller - Tequila, triple sec, agave nectar, grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange. [recipe]

Strawberry Paloma with strawberry-infused tequila, honey, lime, and grapefruit. [recipe]

Reunion Cooler by Jennifer Colliau- Tequila, peppercorns, pineapple, grapefruit peel, lime. [recipe]

The 212 by Aisha Sharpe and Willy Shine - Tequila, Aperol, grapefruit [recipe]

Siesta by Katie Stipe - Tequila, Campari, lime, grapefruit, simple syrup [recipe]

Acapulco by Salvatore Calabrese - Tequila, rum, grapefruit, pineapple. [recipe]

Cardarita by Ago Perrone - Tequila, almond-cardamom sugar, grapefruit, Galliano, ginger ale [recipe]

Salty Chihuahua - Tequila, grapefruit juice, salt [recipe]

Ginger Paloma - Ginger-grapefruit syrup, tequila, lime, club soda [recipe]

Tequila Fresa Punch - Starwberry-infused tequila, triple sec, orange, lime, grapefruit soda, orange bitters [recipe]

 

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Perfectly Clear Ice Balls - A Clever Trick

One of Alcademics' readers figured out a simple way to make perfectly clear ice balls by using a silicon ice ball mold, a piece of wire, and a pot of water. 

His name is Craig Belon and so he calls it the Belon Method. No actual parrots are required.

Artwork by Craig Belon, as are all photos in this post except the next one.

The method is this:

1. Get yourself a silicone ice ball tray like this one that comes in a pack of six. 

2. Over a pot of water (or better yet, a cooler as that will produce lots of clear ice) make a wire loop that the ice ball mold will sit on. 

3. Fill the pot with water just up to the wire. Also fill ice ball with water. Feel free to fill the ice ball with distilled or filtered water for better taste.

Dunk the filled ice ball mold into the pot of water  with the hole FACING DOWN. As you pull the mold up out of the water to set it on the wire. The water should stay inside the ice mold rather than running down into the pot. That's the whole trick.  

4. Freeze it.

As I figured out during all the ice experiments, the water freezes directionally from the coldest place to the warmest; and the first parts to freeze are perfectly clear whereas the last area to freeze is cloudy from trapped air, impurities, and pressure cracks.

In a typical ice cube, that's outside-in, with the cloudy part in the center.  In the Cooler Method I force that to be top-down. Using this pot the water will freeze from the outside-in, but the big pot creates a big heat sink so the top will be clear until after the ice ball is fully frozen.

So with the hole in the ice ball mold facing the bottom of the pot, as the water in the mold turns to ice and expands, it pushes out the extra air-filled water out the hole into the pot below. 

5. Let it freeze, then remove it. 

Now that's a sexy ice ball! Thanks for sharing Craig! 

For those of you who want to freeze more than one ball at a time, I'm guessing you could simply make multiple loops in the wire to hold multiple ice balls, but suspend it over a cooler (as in the Cooler Method) instead, as that is all freezing from the top-down. And at the end, you'd have a bunch of ice balls plus a slab of clear ice with which to make cubes. 

 

Belon also included a way he likes to drink absinthe using an ice ball. 

 

"Flawless Absinthe" by Craig Belon

Recipe:

1 Ice ball using the Belon Method
1 Absinthe glass (essential due to its shape)
1 Sugar cube
Chilled water

Directions: 

-place just enough absinthe into an absinthe glass to fill the bottom bulb part

-Insert Belon Method ice ball, corking off the absinthe in the bottom

-SLOWLY add water to the top over a sugar cube in the standard absinthe preparation fashion.

Physics: the water is denser than the liquor anyway, but with sugar dissolved especially more so. This water will flow around the miniscule gap between the ice ball and the edge of the glass, further cooling it. It will slip past the ball to the bottom of the glass, forming an absinthe-sugarwater interface in the bulb that slowly rises, producing the characteristic white precipitate.... but only at the interface! The fluids of differing densities will remain mostly unmixed over the course of 5-10 minutes, with a rising line of precipitate, until most of the absinthe is on the TOP of the glass, freezing, (it started at the bottom) and still crystal clear, and the sugar water at the bottom. This process produces a beautiful cascading effect (properly: Schlering lines)

What this means is that the drink actually starts as a pretty stout swig of pure absinthe that is frigid-cold, and as you drink it changes to become sweeter and sweeter. 

A cocktail that changes as you drink it, each sip different than the last. Thanks to physics. 

---

Well then, thanks to physics, and thanks again to Craig Belon for his brilliant little trick. 

 

New Booze: 110-Proof Tapatio Tequila

Here are some new spirits launching. The text is taken from these brands' press releases.

Tapatio 110-Proof Blanco Tequila (May 2013)

Carlos Camarena, the iconic distiller of Mexico’s 75-year-old Tequila Tapatio brand has launched a 110-proof Tequila. Tapatio 110-Proof Blanco (55% alc. by vol.) was distilled at Alteña Distillery from 100% estate-grown blue agaves in the Arandas Highlands of Mexico. Under Master Distiller Carlos’ Camerena, the agaves were hand-selected for ripeness and slow-baked for four days. After being crushed, the agave ‘Mosto’ was fermented in small wooden fermenters using their proprietary 75 year-old yeast culture. The ‘Mosto Muerte’ was then double-distilled in small (90-250 gallon) Alambiques Tequilano copper pot stills and aged lightly in stainless.  

Suggested retail for Tapatio 110-Proof Blanco is $48 (1 Liter). It is available in CA, WA, OR, TX, NY, NJ, CT, FL and MO.

Ron Barceló Imperial Premium Blend 30 Aniversario

Ron Barceló Celebrates 30 Years Since the Introduction of Ron Barceló Imperial with a Limited-Edition Release of Ron Barceló Imperial Premium Blend 30 Aniversario. Each year since Miguel Barceló first created Ron Barceló Imperial in 1980, private reserves of this prestigious ten-year-old blended rum were set aside for two years of additional aging.  Aged in barrels made from selected cuts of white oak, these reserves, some from the Bordeaux house of Château d’Yquem, each with different grades of toasting, were blended to create the limited edition Imperial Premium Blend 30 Aniversario in 2011.

Only 9,000 bottles of the Imperial Premium Blend are bottled annually, and of that 9,000 only 600 are allocated to the United States where this Dominican rum was recently introduced. The Imperial Premium Blend 30 Aniversario is 43% alcohol by volume.Ron Barceló Imperial Premium Blend retails for $120.00 per 750ml bottle and is currently available for sale in Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. For more information or to request an interview, please visit www.ronbarcelo.com 

 

Sia Scotch (June 2013)

SIA Scotch Whisky, a blended whisky distilled in Scotland and matured, blended and bottled by Douglas Laing & Co., Ltd., is heading for US shelves. Created by Scotch Enthusiast, licensed bartender and former Creative Director Carin Luna-Ostaseski, SIA is a blend of Speyside, Highlands and Islay malts, specifically created to appeal to a contemporary palate. The product is initially available in San Francisco.

SIA (43% ABV) is expected to be on shelves beginning in June with a retail price of $44.99 (750ml). SIA is imported by Spirit Imports, Inc. of Sunrise, FL. Named after the Gaelic word for the number six, SIA is the first Scotch to be funded through Kickstarter, the crowd sourcing website that is commonly used to fund start-up projects such as films or tech innovations. For additional information, visit www.SiaScotch.com.

UV Vodka Salty Watermelon and Peach (May 2013)

Phillips Distilling Company (Phillips) today announces two juicy new flavor additions to the UV Vodka portfolio, UV Salty Watermelon and UV Peach. Just in time for summer, the new flavors extend UV Vodka’s award-winning selection to 19 flavors. UV Salty Watermelon is the world’s first salted fruit flavored vodka. The flavor was inspired by memories of eating salted watermelon during hot summer days. Phillips experimented with various amounts of salt with all-natural watermelon flavors until they arrived at the blend of sweet, ripe watermelon and a hint of salt to bring out the flavor.

UV Vodka is distilled four times for premium quality and activated carbon filtered to ensure the highest level of purity and the perfect pH balance. UV Salty Watermelon and UV Peach are available in all bottle sizes with a suggested retail price of $12.99 for a 750mL bottle.

Five Gabriel Boudier Liqueurs

21st Century Spirits, a Los Angeles-based importer and producer of wine and spirits, extends its import portfolio holdings with France's Gabriel Boudier to include five new liqueurs. Four of the five new liqueurs will broaden the Gabriel Boudier Mixologist Range from 8 to 12 liqueur flavors with the addition of premium flavors: Caramel, Hibiscus, Darjeeling Tea and Vanilla and Cognac. The fifth Gabriel Boudier introduction is a special dedication to the late French Chef, Bernard Loiseau whose collaboration with Gabriel Boudier to create a unique cherry and chocolate liqueur blend lives on through the Gabriel Boudier Bernard Loiseau Morello Cherries and Chocolate Liqueur bottling, now available to U.S. purchasers nationwide.

The Caramel, Hibiscus, Darjeeling Tea and Vanilla and Cognac flavor additions to the Gabriel Boudier Mixologist Range join the original Mixologist Range portfolio, including: Lychee, Apple, Maraschino, Orange, Parfait Amour, Pomegranate, Ginger and Williams Pear.

Suggested retail pricing for a 750 ml bottle of the existing Gabriel Boudier Mixologist Range, as well as all five new liqueurs, including Gabriel Boudier Bernard Loiseau Morello Cherries and Chocolate Liqueur is $30 USD.

Malibu Island Spiced Rum (May 2013)

Malibu Island Spiced is Caribbean rum infused with coconut, vanilla and a hint of cinnamon. A first for the spiced rum and spirits categories, Malibu Island Spiced takes a lighter approach, using Truvía® all natural sweetener to give you the full flavor you love with fewer calories. With only 70 calories per serving*, this light amber rum is 30% alc/vol (60 proof), and retails at a suggested price of $16.99 for 750 ml.

Reserve Jean de Lillet 2009 (April 30, 2013)

Maison Lillet announces the release of Reserve Jean de Lillet 2009 (SRP $39.99), a limited-edition vintage cuvee. This premium reserve of Lillet is a unique creation blended with the 2009 vintage wine from the Sauternes region of Bordeaux.  Similar to its other varieties, the Jean de Lillet then adds an orange liqueur crafted from sweet orange peels from Spain and bitter oranges from Haiti, a small amount of quinine from Peru is also added to the blend. The aperitif then went through a more extensive aging process - similar to a Bordeaux grand cru - including 12 months in French oak barrels, a third of this time in new oak barrels. Jean de Lillet can be enjoyed immediately but will also improve with age (recommended aging is ten to 15 years).

The concept of assembling vintage cuvees was important to the Lillet brothers and the Maison has kept this age-old winemaking tradition going through the production of Jean de Lillet cuvees, which he started in 1993.  The name Jean de Lillet is a tribute to the Lillet family’s earliest known ancestor who settled in Podensac, France, in 1680.Beginning April 30th

Jean de Lillet will be available for purchase through Astorwines.com as well as select New York and San Francisco retailers.

Bols Yogurt Liqueur (June- August 2013)

The product is made from natural ingredients, with no added colorants, with an ABV of 15%. Made from the highest quality fresh yogurt, Bols Yogurt Liqueur has a unique sweet and sour taste profile, and a natural, smooth flavor making it a perfect, versatile ingredient for mixability. It’s unique in the sense that it doesn’t curd when used with sodas or fresh juices in contrast to other well known cream based liqueurs. It has a very low fat percentage which makes it the perfect addition to current food and drink trends. The suggest retail price for a 750ml bottle is $17.99. Bols Yogurt Liqueur will roll out in Florida by June 1 and in California by July 1 with plan for a national roll out in August 2013. 

Absolut Elyx (April 2013)

Every part of the production of Absolut Elyx, from seed to bottle to distribution, is performed within a 15 mile radius of Ahus in the Skane region.  At the heart of the old Absolut distillery where Elyx is perfected, stands a single column continuous distillation unit made entirely of copper and dates back to 1921.  The copper surfaces inside the column have a catalytic effect on some of the trade compounds in the spirit, removing unwanted impuritities and adding a remarkably smooth texture.

The Absolut Elyx bottle is shaped like a modern decanter with real copper accents.  With a suggested retail price of $49 a bottle for a 1L, Absolut Elyx is being  launched in New York, Miami and Los Angeles.  Select other major metropolitan markets will be added over time as the product is discovered and advocated by consumer and trade influencers. 

Johnnie Walker Double Black (April 2013)

This formerly limited-edition version of Johnnie Walker is joining the permanent line. "The deeper, more intense flavors of Johnnie Walker Double Black derive from the combination of selected aged, naturally smoky whiskies and whiskies matured in deep-charred oak barrels, all carefully blended to bring out the smokiest flavors," commented Master Blender Jim Beveridge. 

Johnnie Walker Double Black is now available nationwide with a suggested retail price of $40. For more information, please visitwww.JohnnieWalker.com/en-us. 

 

High Rise Vodka (Spring 2013)

Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. is launching High Rise Vodka in limited markets. 

High Rise uses the finest, softest winter wheat from the Finger Lakes region of New York and the pristine limestone water that flows through the glacial soils of the landscape. The Vodka has been distilled five times to produce an aromatic and creamy Vodka suitable to the era.

High Rise Vodka will be launched this spring in 11 markets in the United States. The 80 proof flagship Vodka will be complemented by two flavors – Cherry and Citrus. Available in three varieties, (50ml, 750 ml, 1.75L), the product will compete in the premium Vodka segment at $12.99 for 750ml and $21.99 for 1.75L. For more details, visit www.highrisevodka.com.

 Deep Eddy Ruby Red Vodka (April 2013)

Deep Eddy introduces Ruby Red, a refreshing ruby red grapefruit infused vodka made with quality, all-natural ingredients including 100% pure cane sugar and spring water from an aquifer deep in Texas Hill Country. Ruby Red will be available in stores beginning April 2013.Ruby Red is free of artificial coloring and high-fructose corn syrup. Consumers can purchase Ruby Red in four sizes: 50 ml, 750 ml, 1 liter and 1.75 liter.

Ruby Red is available for sale in the following states: Texas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Arkansas and Washington D.C. More states will be added in the months to come.For more information about Ruby Red and the Deep Eddy portfolio, please visit www.deepeddyvodka.com.

 

Absolut Cilantro (May 2013)

Poised to capitalize on ever-expanding cocktail curiosity, ABSOLUT CILANTRO is a contemporary and vibrant flavor expression that combines the distinctly aromatic essence of cilantro with the zesty notes of ripe, juicy lime.

Like all ABSOLUT VODKA Flavors, ABSOLUT CILANTRO is made with all natural flavors and no sugar added.  Available in May 2013, ABSOLUT CILANTRO (40% ABV) will be offered in 50ml, 750ml and 1L sizes and will retail for a suggested price of $20.99/750ml.

 

 

Avua Cachaca (April 2013)

Later this month Americans will get their first taste of Avuá Cachaça available in two expressions – Prata (unaged) and Amburana (wood aged). The spirit will initially available only in New York. Avuá, like all Cachaças, is presented as a first press product rather than rum which is often distilled from molasses, a byproduct of sugar. Avuá sets itself apart by being produced by a modest family distillery that’s been in operation since 1923 in a small, lush town in a valley four hours north of Rio de Janeiro. Working with their third generation distiller, who happens to be one of the few female distillers in Brazil, they developed a formula composed of spirit aged in a rare Brazilian hardwoods known as Amburana.  For more information about Avuá, please visit www.avuacachaca.com

 

Good Booze, Bad Booze: Remember the Champagne

 
One day science says drinking will make you live forever. The next day science says it will kill you tomorrow. Good Booze, Bad Booze is an Alcademics category where I put all these stories together. 

 

5/14/13:  Scientists reveal drinking champagne could improve memory  [link] 

From the University of Reading: "New research shows that drinking one to three glasses of champagne a week may counteract the memory loss associated with ageing, and could help delay the onset of degenerative brain disorders, such as dementia."

 

Previous Good Booze, Bad Booze

4/07/13:  Self-medication drinking may lead to alcohol dependence  [link] 

4/06/13:  Binge drinking in your 20s can trigger heart disease, as being young has no protective effect against alcohol  [link] 

04/106/13:  Three glasses of fizz a day 'could improve your memory' [link]

3/19/13:  College enrollment does not lead to problem drinking in adulthood [link] 

 3/09/13:  Heavy drinkers get extra brain fuel from alcohol [link] 

2/15/13:  Alcohol said to have big role in cancer [link] 

1/29/13:  Local bottle shops linked to mental health [link] 

1/23/13:  Alcohol and a Good Night's Sleep Don't Mix [link] 

 1/09/13:  Resolved to give up alcohol for January? It could do you more harm than good [link] 

 12/31/12:  Settling down with a Christmas tipple may be good for your health - but only if you're slim [link] 

 12/17/12:  Depression risk reduced in women who drink moderately [link] 

 12/10/12:  Beer is good for you: study finds that suds contain anti-viral powers [link] 

11/20/12:  Alcohol aids survival of traumatic injuries, UIC study shows [link] 

 11/13/12:  Resveratrol From Red Wine Grapes Could Help Kill Prostate Tumor Cells  [link] 

 11/7/12:  Could a glass of wine help a woman beat breast cancer?  [link] 

 10/27/12:  Red Wine Compound May Not Help Healthy Women  [link] 

 10/27/12:  Just two glasses of wine a day can nearly halve the number of brain cells we produce   [link] 

 9/9/12:  Consuming three or more alcoholic drinks daily may raise risk for hemorrhagic stroke  [link] 

 9/9/12:  No fun! Non-alcoholic wine best for health benefits  [link] 

 

see plenty more news stories after the jump...