The Paloma: A Toast to Tequila, Tides, and the Texas Coast

There's a certain hour down here at Reel 'em Inn that is somewhere between the last cast of the afternoon and the first string of green lights flickering on over the pier - when a cold drink just makes sense. Salt still on your skin. A little sun-tired. Maybe a redfish in the cooler, maybe not. Either way, it's Paloma hour.

A Drink Built for the Coast

The Paloma is, by most counts, Mexico's most popular tequila cocktail that is more popular even than the Margarita back home. Its origin story is fuzzy in the best way, the way good bar lore always is. Some say it was born in Guadalajara. Others trace it to a bartender simply combining what was on hand at any given cantina: blanco tequila, a squeeze of lime, a pinch of salt, and a splash of grapefruit soda. No fancy syrups, no shake.. just perfect.

The name means "dove" in Spanish, which tracks. It's a drink with no edges, no drama. It shows up, it does its job, and it disappears just as easily as it arrived — much like a good afternoon on the water.

Why Tequila Belongs on This Coast

Tequila and the Texas Gulf are closer cousins than people think. Both come from land shaped by heat, salt, and patience — agave fields baking under a relentless sun in Jalisco, barrier islands doing the same along Aransas Bay. There's a shared philosophy: take your time, respect what the land (or the water) gives you, and don't overcomplicate it.

That's the whole spirit of a Paloma. It's not a cocktail that asks for your attention. It's a cocktail that lets you keep yours on the things that matter the line in the water, the gulf breeze, the friend next to you who still owes you a story about the one that got away.

Fishing's Unofficial Reward

Ask anyone who's spent a morning wading the flats or working a fly along the mangroves what they're dreaming about by noon, and grapefruit and lime is a common answer. There's something about the rhythm of fly fishing — the patience, the repetition, the quiet — that primes a person for a drink that's just as unfussy. No stirring, no muddling, no ceremony. Tequila, citrus, a fizz of grapefruit, a rim of salt if you're feeling proper about it. Done.

It's the drink you earn, not the one you plan around.

Rockport's Kind of Cocktail

Here at the Inn, we didn't have to work hard to make the Paloma feel like ours. It already tastes like the Coastal Bend — bright, briny, unbothered. Whether you're back from the pier with sand still in your boots or just watching the sun drop from a patio chair, it's the drink that matches the pace of a place like this: slow mornings, long afternoons, and evenings that don't ask to be rushed.

A little Texas local company spotlight in the Mix

We love celebrating quality and love coming from local business we come across. That's where ACASA Margarita Mix got its start back in the spring of 2020, when founders Catherine Governale and Jamie Laguarta wanted to make sure their favorite cocktail could still be enjoyed even with restaurants shut down. What began as a way to keep the ritual alive turned into a local, all-natural mix made in small batches - the kind of thing built by people who just wanted the drink done right, "a casa," at home, wherever home happens to be.

That's a philosophy we recognize. A good margarita and a good Paloma are cousins, really — both built on honest tequila and real citrus, both happiest outdoors, both better when nobody's overthinking them. ACASA's hibiscus batch in particular has that same sunset color and citrus-forward brightness we chase in a Paloma, which makes it an easy, at-home stand-in when you're craving that Rockport feeling but the bay is a few hours away.

It's a fitting connection: a small-batch mix built in Houston, made for pouring "a casa," meeting a drink built for the coast, made for pouring on the pier. Different zip codes, same idea — keep it simple, keep it real, and share it with people you like.

So if you're stocking a cooler for the pier and you don't have what you need for a proper Paloma — no fresh grapefruit, no time to squeeze limes, no soda on hand — do what we do: grab a bottle of ACASA instead. Pour it over ice with your tequila and you're most of the way to that same bright, citrus-forward pour without the fuss.

So here's our small tribute — to the agave fields of Jalisco, to the flats and the fly rods, to the Texas coast that raised us, to the Houston kitchen where ACASA got its start, and to the Paloma, officially the drink of the summer down at Reel 'em Inn.

The Perfect Paloma

Makes 1 drink

• 2 oz blanco tequila

• 3 oz grapefruit soda (or fresh grapefruit juice + a splash of soda water)

• 1/2 oz fresh lime juice

• Pinch of salt (or a salted rim)

• Ice

• Lime wheel or grapefruit slice, for garnish

  
  

How to make it:

1. Salt the rim of a highball glass, if you're feeling proper about it.

2. Fill the glass with ice.

3. Add the tequila and lime juice.

4. Top with grapefruit soda and give it a gentle stir.

5. Garnish with a lime wheel or grapefruit slice and take it out to the pier.

Shortcut version: swap the grapefruit soda and lime juice for a bottle of ACASA over ice with your tequila — same bright citrus pour, no squeezing required.