The Virgin Classics
Virgin Paloma
The paloma — not the margarita — is Mexico's most-ordered tequila cocktail, and the alcohol-free version proves how durable the template is. Fresh grapefruit juice supplies the drink's entire personality: bright acidity up front, floral perfume through the middle, and a pleasantly bitter grip from the pith on the finish. Lime sharpens that acidity into focus, agave nectar rounds off the bitter edges, and a stream of cold sparkling water stretches it all into a tall, quenching highball. The salted rim is doing real work, too — salt suppresses bitterness and makes the grapefruit taste riper than it is, which matters even more in a mocktail with no spirit to fill out the mid-palate.
This is the drink for taco night, a hot patio afternoon, or any zero-proof menu that needs something tart and grown-up next to the sweeter options. One point of technique worth being stubborn about: squeeze the grapefruit yourself. Bottled juice loses the volatile citrus oils that make a paloma smell like a paloma, and the drink turns flat and candy-ish without them. Salt only half the rim while you're at it, so every sip can be taken with salt or without.
- Prep
- 5 min
- Total
- 5 min
- Makes
- 1 drink
- Calories
- ~100 per serving
Published by the NA Bar Finder editorial team
Ingredients
- 3 oz (90 ml) fresh grapefruit juice (about 1/2 large grapefruit)
- 3/4 oz (22 ml) fresh lime juice
- 1/2 oz (15 ml) agave nectar, or to taste
- 3 oz (90 ml) chilled sparkling water or club soda, to top
- Ice cubes, to fill
- Kosher or flaky sea salt, for the rim
- Lime wedge, for the rim
- Grapefruit wedge or half-wheel, to garnish
How to make it
- 1
Salt the rim
Run the lime wedge around half the outside rim of a chilled highball glass, then roll the moistened edge through a small plate of kosher salt. Salting only half keeps every sip optional.
- 2
Dissolve the agave
Add the grapefruit juice, lime juice, and agave nectar to the glass and stir until the agave fully dissolves. It combines far more easily before the ice goes in.
- 3
Add the ice
Fill the glass to the top with fresh, solid ice cubes.
- 4
Top with soda
Pour in the chilled sparkling water and give the drink one gentle lift with a bar spoon to integrate it without knocking out the bubbles.
- 5
Garnish and serve
Perch a grapefruit wedge on the rim and serve immediately, while the soda is at full fizz.
Bartender’s notes
- Ruby red grapefruit makes a sweeter, rounder paloma; white grapefruit is sharper and more bitter. Taste the juice before committing to the full 1/2 oz (15 ml) of agave.
- Everything cold: chill the glass, the soda, even the juice. With no spirit in the glass, warm ingredients melt ice fast and the drink dilutes into blandness before it's half finished.
- A grapefruit soda shortcut works in a pinch — skip the grapefruit juice, agave, and sparkling water and top the lime juice with 4 oz (120 ml) of a good grapefruit soda — but the fresh-juice build has far more aroma.
- For a cantarito-style riff, add a squeeze of fresh orange and serve in a clay cup; the earthenware keeps the drink noticeably colder in the sun.
Variations
- Zero-proof tequila paloma: stir 1 1/2 oz (45 ml) Ritual Zero Proof Tequila Alternative, Free Spirits The Spirit of Tequila, or Lyre's Agave Blanco into the citrus base for the agave-and-white-pepper backbone of the original.
- Spicy paloma: muddle two or three thin jalapeño coins with the lime juice before building, and swap the plain salt rim for a chili-lime salt.
- No squeezing required: Parch makes agave-based sparkling mocktails in the paloma family — pour one over ice with a salted rim and a grapefruit wedge for a two-minute version.
Bottles that make it better
Non-alcoholic brands from our directory that fit this build — each page lists where to find them near you.
Ritual Zero Proof
0.5% ABV or less
Chicago-based, restaurant-favorite NA spirit line. Their Tequila and Whiskey alternatives are built to disappear into Margaritas and Old Fashioneds.
Where to find Ritual Zero Proof →Free Spirits
Less than 0.5% ABV (approx. 0.2%)
Distilled non-alcoholic spirits with added B-vitamins and amino acids. Spirit of Tequila and Spirit of Gin are the workhorses of the lineup.
Where to find Free Spirits →Lyre's
0.5% ABV or less (individual spirits test under 0.3%–0.4% ABV)
Award-winning NA range that mirrors classics: American Malt (whiskey), Italian Orange (Aperol), Dry London Spirit (gin). The widest classic-cocktail toolkit on the market.
Where to find Lyre's →Parch
Less than 0.5% ABV (non-alcoholic)
Arizona-born non-alcoholic agave canned cocktails inspired by the Sonoran Desert, made with organic blue weber agave, prickly pear and desert botanicals, and dosed with adaptogens instead of alcohol.
Where to find Parch →Rather have it made for you?
These verified bars and restaurants pour virgin paloma-style builds from their own zero-proof menus — no shaker required.
Old City Kava Company
Old City
Old City Kava Company is a fully alcohol-free kava and kratom lounge that opened in December 2025 at 40 S. 2nd Street in Philadelphia's historic Old City. Founded by Luca Kobza and Adam Lagner, the 1,900-square-foot space is built as a bar alternative for the sober-curious, with roughly 60 seats across a bar, two-tops, and jewel-toned couches, a small board-game collection, and rotating contemporary art for sale. The drink program centers on 16-plus kava-, kratom-, and botanical-tea-based mocktails, including the Lemongrass Paloma, the Old City Red Eye (kava, kratom, ReAnimator cold brew, oat milk, agave, vanilla), the Old Citywide, the Cucumber Basil Cooler, and Maple Masala. By day it doubles as a coworking cafe serving ReAnimator coffee, Random Tea Room teas, and Funky Fresh kombucha; it stays open until midnight on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends.
Lost Cultures Tea Bar
Sawmill District
Lost Cultures Tea Bar is a fully non-alcoholic bar in Albuquerque's Sawmill District where owner Ryan Brown builds cocktails out of tea rather than out of spirit substitutes. The Ancient Fashioned is pu'erh tea with sugar, orange bitters and wood smoke; the Smokey Rose runs lapsang souchong against grapefruit, lemon, rose simple syrup and foaming bitters; the paloma is built on chamomile with lime, agave and grapefruit soda. Kombucha is poured alongside. Brown does not use the word mocktail for any of it, and the room is a genuine bar rather than a tea shop with a late licence — Friday and Saturday it runs to 10pm.
De La Playa Records & Leisure
Highland Park
De La Playa Records & Leisure is a fully alcohol-free hybrid record shop and community space in LA's Highland Park, opened in mid-2024 by three co-founders with roots in Long Beach and the Harbor area: John David Preap ("Bles"), Diego "Fuego" Guerrero, and Jon Paul Lourenço. The shop pairs thousands of vinyl records — hip hop, reggae, jazz, cumbia, salsa, funk, house — with a retail selection of 100-plus non-alcoholic beverages, including Greek- and Italian-style amaros, NA IPAs, de-alcoholized wines, and ready-to-drink cocktails. On weekends, the founders run "Bar Non," a made-to-order zero-proof cocktail stand on the patio (think an NA rum build with ube, cinnamon, maple, and black walnut, or a non-alcoholic Paloma with hopped grapefruit bitters), alongside guest DJ sets, listening parties, and vendor events. The founders deliberately chose to stay alcohol-free — one of LA's clearest dedicated-NA anchors.
Left Field Brewery – Liberty Village
Liberty Village
Left Field Brewery's taproom, kitchen and Cold Beer Store on Hanna Ave in Liberty Village run a dedicated NON-ALC section on the printed drinks menu, led by the brewery's own 0.5% ABV Everyday Player Non-Alc Lager. Guest zero-proof pours round it out, including Harmon's Jack Pine Non-Alc Pale Ale, Collective Arts' Perpetual Paloma and a Godspeed Brewery iced tea, alongside in-house sparkling water and an Italian soda built on the brewery's own Say Hey syrup. blogTO has singled out the taproom's in-house sparkling water, non-alcoholic beers, iced teas and soft drinks alongside its Pilot Coffee Roasters coffee.
Bungalow by Middle Brow
Logan Square
Bungalow by Middle Brow is the Logan Square brewery, bakery and pizzeria that Middle Brow Beer Co. opened after eight years of contract brewing, and it runs a properly built non-alcoholic cocktail list under an N-A heading on its drinks menu. Three house zero-proof drinks anchor it: a Middle Brow Paloma with Lyre's N/A tequila, sudachi and sparkling grapefruit; an Amaro Negroni with Seedlip 94, non-alcoholic Amaro Lucano and Lyre's Red Aperitivo; and a Dark and Stormy with Lyre's N/A dark rum, Pathfinder hemp root amaro, lime and ginger beer. A Fair State Hypercold N/A lager and Leitz Eins Zwei Zero N/A sparkling rose sit beside them. The room opens at 8am for coffee and toast and runs through naturally leavened pizza in the evening.
Katana Kitten
Greenwich Village
A split-level Japanese-American cocktail bar in Greenwich Village from Masahiro "Masa" Urushido, a perennial fixture on The World's 50 Best Bars list. Its menu of highballs, boilermakers and signature cocktails runs alongside a named no-ABV drink, non-alcoholic beer, and classic highballs that can be made alcohol-free with Seedlip.
Frequently asked
A highball or collins glass is standard, filled to the top with ice so the drink stays cold and lightly diluted. In Mexico the paloma often arrives in a cantarito, a rustic clay cup that insulates well and adds a faint mineral note. Whichever vessel you use, salt half the rim so drinkers can choose each sip.
Yes, and it batches better than most mocktails. Combine the grapefruit juice, lime juice, and agave in a pitcher up to a day ahead and refrigerate; a 6x batch is 18 oz (540 ml) grapefruit, 4 1/2 oz (135 ml) lime, and 3 oz (90 ml) agave. Add ice and top each glass with sparkling water at serving time so the fizz survives.
You can — the classic spirited paloma in Mexico is often built exactly that way. Pour about 4 oz (120 ml) of grapefruit soda over the lime juice and skip the agave and sparkling water, since sodas arrive pre-sweetened. Fresh juice makes a brighter, less sugary drink with much more grapefruit aroma, which is why it's the default here.