Gem Paloma

An alcohol-free Paloma that still tastes like the real thing

In Mexico, the Paloma outsells the Margarita on its own turf, and it turns out to be the easiest classic to rebuild as an alcohol-free Paloma. That's because the drink was never really about the tequila in the first place. Order one at a roadside stand in Guadalajara and what you actually taste is grapefruit, lime and salt, sharp and bright, with the tequila sitting quietly underneath as backbone rather than flavour. Take that backbone out and most cocktails collapse, but the Paloma doesn't, because grapefruit was always carrying the drink. Cloudy amber Gem Juice Original steps into the tequila's old job here: it brings heat, and a little bite, without asking the rest of the glass to change. It's a drink built for a terrace table on a warm afternoon, when a real Paloma feels like the wrong call but a soda feels like giving up too much.

Why grapefruit and ginger work so well together

Pink grapefruit juice brings sweetness and a clean bitter finish in the same sip, and that combination is exactly what softens ginger without dulling it. Gem Juice Original still comes through, in the first sip and in the finish, it just arrives with grapefruit and lime standing next to it instead of carrying the glass alone. Grapefruit's natural bitterness rounds off that ginger edge too, which makes this the pour to hand to someone who normally says ginger is too much for them. They'll still notice it, they just won't reach for water afterward. A salted rim ties the whole thing together the same way it does in the original, cutting the bitterness just enough to let the grapefruit sit forward.

It's a Belgian supermarket recipe more than a bar recipe. Pink grapefruits, limes and sparkling water are on every shelf, and the only thing that turns it into a Gem Paloma rather than a plain grapefruit soda is the 3 cl of Gem Juice Original. This is the second entry in a small house series of classics we're rebuilding around Original, after the Gem Mule. Same idea both times: keep the backbone of the original drink intact, and let Original do the job the spirit used to do. No blender, no shaker, no bar tools, and the ratio forgives itself if your grapefruits are sweeter or sharper than last week's. Just a tall glass, a squeeze of lime and five minutes on a Friday afternoon.

What you need

• 3 cl Gem Juice Original
• 12 cl fresh pink grapefruit juice
• 1 cl lime juice
• Sparkling water, to top
• Ice cubes
• A pinch of sea salt
• Grapefruit wedge, to garnish

How to make it

1. Rub a lime wedge around the rim of a tall glass and dip the rim in sea salt.
2. Fill the glass with ice.
3. Pour in the grapefruit juice and the lime juice.
4. Add the Gem Juice Original.
5. Top with sparkling water and stir once, gently, so the bubbles stay.
6. Garnish with a grapefruit wedge.

Tip: This is a terrace drink, made for the hour when the sun is still out but the day is already winding down. A little Gem Juice Original goes a long way here, so there's no need to add more than the 3 cl. If your grapefruits are on the sharper side, taste before topping with sparkling water and adjust the lime rather than the Original. It's the drink that follows the Gem Mule in this series, both built the same way: keep what made the original good, swap out only the part that needed swapping.

Made with Gem Juice Original. No added sugars, no preservatives, produced in Belgium.