As a champagne loving kind of girl, it should go without saying that I do loves me the quintessential bubbly brunch cocktail known as the mimosa.
Although I really do dig them, this girl is also quite staunchly anti-status quo which means I’m also always looking for ways to switch and mix things up to turn the ordinary into something much more interesting.
If you follow me on Instagram then you know that in addition to champagne I’m also ALWAYS down for a really good, interesting, craft cocktail {check out the hashtag #WITWITBD and see for yourself!} so, when I was inspired to delve into a new edition of “What in the World is The Bubbleista Drinking,” the brunch edition (ha), my mind immediately jumped to jazzing up the standard, basic mimosa.
Looking for some inspiration, I decided to check out the produce offerings at the market and discovered that it is prime citrus season. I began to check out the lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruits, with the grapefruits giving me the idea of possibly making a Paloma.
For the uninitiated, a Paloma is kind of a margarita offshoot, but better. In fact, La Palomas are actually the go to cocktails in Mexico, and not the margarita. A typical Paloma is made of grapefruit juice, lime juice, tequila (or mezcal), and club soda. The grapefruit juice in a Paloma that’s used instead of the organe juice in a margarita gives the cocktail a zippy, bright, fresh, flavor with a pleasant and interesting slightly bitter edge.
So, that settled it for me—a Paloma would be the inspiration for my new cocktail. I picked up a grapefruit and put it on my basket with the intent to move on, and then that’s when I saw it: a huge, fragrant, pummelo.
I picked up the pummelo, sniffed it, and was instantly intoxicated by it deeply citrusy, floral-y aromas. It was love at first sniff! Pummelos are grown in California and the fruit’s season will continue through April or May, which makes it absolutely perfect for spring cocktailing. Pummelos are kind of a cross between an orange, grapefruit, and lime in terms of flavors and have a sweet taste with a mildly tart flavor. They are a gorgeously hued rosy pink on the inside, with a juicy, tender texture, and the aroma of a ripe one will knock your socks off!
I knew I could not leave the pummelo behind and had to figure out how to use it. Then the idea hit me to make a Paloma with a pummelo! My cocktail creative juices—both figuratively and literally—were in full swing at that moment which lead me to my latest WITWITBD cocktail creation: the Palomimosa, a cross between a Paloma and a mimosa, then taking it to another level with a pummelo twist!
It. Was. GENIUS! At least in my unique cocktail loving opinion.
So, the Experimentation was on, and it was an absolute success! What I love about this drink is that the ingredients make it so versatile that it can simultaneously elevate your next brunch or bring your next taco Tuesday to new heights.
If you like the most us and margaritas, then you will absolutely LOVE this drink! Here are a couple things to note about making it:
- although I used champagne the recipe calls for champagne or sparkling wine meaning either is fine–just as long as it’s Brut and good quality
- I used Casa Dragones tequila because the profile is SO BOMB–it’s smooth and delicious. You can use any tequila blanco as long as it’s great quality
- the recipe calls for pummelo simple syrup and the recipe is super simple: 1 cup of water + 1 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon freshly grated pummelo zest; simmer over low heat until sugar is completely dissolved; and strain the syrup until the zest is removed
- you can serve the drink in large white wine glasses or old-fashioned glasses, and you can even use ice if you like the way I did–just make sure you put the ice in the glass first, then add the tequila mixture, and the champagne has to be poured on top last
Now that you’ve gotten some recipe particulars, feast your eyes on my gorgeous photos of the cocktail then scroll to the bottom to get to the recipe!
