This drink inspired me to make The Big Singer; the name is slang for “little singer.” It’s a modification of the Paloma, which is a grapefruit soda and tequila drink. In addition to lime, the Cantarita contains lemon and orange juice. The result is something that tastes like a margarita; the orange juice fills in for the orange liquor. Served in a highball glass i and garnished with salt, it even looks like a classier version of the margarita, but not without a festive kick. Since a single drink will leave behind fractions of fruit, it’s best served in a social situations, lest you get stuck making the next one with less-than-fresh ingredients.
Ingredients
- grapefruit soda ii
- ½ ounce orange juice iii
- ½ ounce lemon juice iv
- ½ ounce lime juice v
- 1½ ounces tequila vi
- 1 maraschino cherry vii
- coarse salt vii
Directions
- Salt the rim of a highball glass. vii
- Squeeze all the fruits, saving a slice of each except the grapefruit, to be used as a garnish.
- Strain juice into a shaker, viii add tequila.
- Fill glass with ice cubes.
- Put slices of fruit on the rim of the glass, and rest cherry on the ice.
- Pour juice and soda into glass simultaneously. Try to get all of the juice in there.
I went out and bought two of each kind of glass just to get the photo right. There are plenty more cocktail articles coming, and I intend to portray the drinks correctly. ^
- I’m not gonna use some nasty grapefruit flavored soda, so I squeeze half of an actual fruit, and top the drink off with soda water. ^
- approximately ¼ orange ^
- approximately ½ lemon ^
- approximately 1 lime. ^
- I prefer blanco, but anejo or reposado might work. This drink ends up tasting much like a margarita, which also works with any kind of tequila. ^
- optional ^ ^ ^
- You don’t need to actually shake it, but it’s handy to have a place to strain the juice into that isn’t the final glass. The reason for this is so that you can pour the soda at the same time as the juice. You don’t want to disturb the soda beyond pouring it, but you want it evenly distributed throughout the drink. ^
[...] This drink is a variation of the Cantarita which is itself a variation of the Paloma. The former is a spanish slang for “the little singer,” hence my choice of the name “big singer.” Rather than orange juice, it uses rum; I’d say that makes it bigger. Plus, the tumbler is a larger glass than a high ball, visually at least. [...]