Well it turns out that after more than two years of making and tasting cocktails we haven’t actually tried a traditional Paloma yet. And since Halloween is traditionally tequila night, it made sense to rectify this oversight. This is in fact the 10th year we have all gathered together on Halloween night and indulged in the goodness that is tequila.

After a little research, it turns out that the Paloma is the Mexican cocktail. The margarita gets all the press north of the border, but is much less popular amongst Mexicans. Some speculate that this is due to the margarita being easier to pre-mix and to make as well as the higher margins associated with it. Certainly the invention of the Margarita Machine in the 70s helped boost its popularity. So it was time for a true Mexican classic. Since this is our first taste, I decided to go all out using fresh-squeezed grapefruit instead of the more usual grapefruit soda and make it in a pitcher.

Ingredients

• 1 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 tbsp simple syrup
• 1 cup of good silver tequila
• 1 cup club soda
• Garnish with kosher salt, grapefruit slices, lime slices
  (serves 4)

Combine the fresh grapefruit and lime juice, simple syrup, and tequila. Stir to mix. Chill. Salt rim of 4 glasses, add ice and divide cocktail into 4. Top up with club soda. Garnish with grapefruit wedge and lime slice.

The verdict: Mmmmm! This is one of those cocktails where you can still taste the tequila—so be sure to use the good stuff. In the end I think we would have preferred to leave off the salted rim (although that could have been because, at the last minute, I couldn’t find the kosher salt ). So maybe try it both ways. But it was tasty and refreshing and 4 thumbs up.