Franklin & Sons Pink Grapefruit Soda
Pink grapefruit and lime, both as juice rather than flavouring, over sparkling water. The lime is the detail worth knowing: it is already in the bottle, which changes how much a Paloma needs on top.
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Grapefruit first and sharper than sweet, with the lime arriving underneath it and a dry, faintly bitter finish from the pith.
Storage & Handling
Cool and sealed. Cold for service.
Usage
Roughly 100ml over 50ml of blanco or reposado tequila, which is a Paloma. It also lengthens gin surprisingly well, where the pith bitterness stands in for tonic without bringing quinine along with it.
What Makes It Different
Most grapefruit sodas are built on flavouring and sugar, and taste of grapefruit the way boiled sweets taste of fruit. This one carries pink grapefruit and lime as juice, which is why it reads tart before it reads sweet.
The lime is the part that catches people out. A Paloma recipe usually calls for a squeeze on top, written on the assumption that the soda has none. Here it does, and following the recipe exactly tips the drink sour.
Why Grapefruit Suits Tequila
Tequila has a vegetal, faintly peppery edge from the agave that most fruit flavours fight. Grapefruit does not fight it — the bitterness in the pith runs alongside that pepper rather than trying to cover it.
It is the same logic that makes grapefruit work with gin. Both spirits are aromatic and slightly bitter to start with, and grapefruit meets them rather than sweetening them into something else.
Beyond the Paloma
Poured over gin it does much of what a tonic does, minus the quinine, which suits anyone who finds tonic medicinal. It is also a good length for mezcal, where the smoke needs something bitter rather than something sweet to sit against.
What it does not suit is anything already sweet. Grapefruit and a liqueur-forward build turn cloying quickly, because there is not enough acid left to hold the sugar down.
Serving It
Cold, in a highball or a wine glass, over a full load of cubed ice. Grapefruit aromatics fade fast as a drink warms, and a half-filled glass gets there sooner.
Salt belongs on the rim rather than stirred through. It meets the bitterness gradually instead of flattening the whole drink at once.
Pro Tip
Taste before you add lime. There is lime juice in the soda already, and a Paloma built as though there is not will finish sharp and thin rather than rounded.
Top Tips
- Cut the lime you add by about half against a recipe written for plain grapefruit soda. The juice is already in there.
- Salt the rim rather than the drink. Grapefruit pith is bitter, and salt on the glass meets it a sip at a time instead of all at once.
- Reposado over blanco if the drink tastes hollow. The barrel time gives the grapefruit something with weight to sit against.
Possible Substitutions
- Fever-Tree Sparkling Pink Grapefruit: the parallel product, drier and without the lime
- Grapefruit juice with soda water: closer to a Salty Dog, and you control the lime yourself
History & Context
Grapefruit soda is Mexican by adoption rather than invention. The Paloma is built on it, and in Mexico that has long meant Squirt or Jarritos — sweeter, brasher drinks than this. The premium-mixer era brought a drier reading of the same idea, aimed at tequila that is worth tasting.
Common Questions
Do I still need to add lime to a Paloma?
Less than the recipe says, and sometimes none. There is lime juice in the soda already. Taste it first, then add a squeeze only if the drink needs sharpening.
How does it compare to Fever-Tree Sparkling Pink Grapefruit?
The Fever-Tree is drier and grapefruit alone; this carries lime as well, so it lands rounder and slightly tarter. Both make a good Paloma and the lime measure is what changes between them.
Can I use it with gin?
Yes, and it works well. The pith bitterness does much of what tonic does without the quinine, which suits people who find tonic too medicinal.
Often Used With
Guide by Jerry Can Spirits