Built in the glass: +5 % of the pre-batch, +0.34 oz of water
Served
6.75 + 0.34 = 7.09 oz in the glass
Strength
0.8 ÷ 7.09 = 11.3 % ABV as served
Ethanol
0.8 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 19 g · about 131 kcal from the alcohol alone
IN THE GLASS
METHYL ANTHRANILATE
FROM TEQUILA AGAVE · the grape candy note
Formula
C₈H₉NO₂
Mass
151.16 g/mol
IUPAC
methyl 2-aminobenzoate
The grape-candy / Welch's-grape-juice aroma. Concord grapes carry it in concentrations no European wine grape (Vitis vinifera) approaches; American Vitis labrusca grapes, native to the northeastern US, hold methyl anthranilate as a signature. The "foxy" note in North American grape juice and artificial grape candy both come from the same molecule. Also used as the standard bird repellent on commercial fruit crops; birds find it intolerable.
An orange rind, squeezed, throws a spray that catches the light. That's d-limonene boiling off. It's roughly 95% of orange peel oil by mass, and the molecule that puts the "orange" in orange anything. Used industrially as a green solvent because the chemistry that dissolves citrus oils also dissolves greasy machinery. The expressed-peel garnish on a cocktail is delivering vaporized limonene to the rim of the glass.
The cinchona-bark alkaloid that defines tonic water, bitter enough that a few milligrams per liter is all the recipe needs. Used as the original anti-malarial before synthetic replacements; gin & tonic exists because British colonial officers in 19th-century India needed a daily quinine vehicle, and gin made the tonic less unpalatable. Modern tonic carries a fraction of the historical dose.
Blanco tequila, lime, grapefruit soda and an optional salt rim. This is Mexico's national tequila pour (not the Margarita, the American favorite). The grapefruit's naringin harmonizes with tequila's ethyl acetate esters. Salt inhibits naringin bitter perception via receptor competition.
PROVENANCE
Mexico's most popular tequila cocktail: domestic Mexican consumption favors the Paloma over the Margarita by a wide margin. Don Javier Delgado Corona of La Capilla in Tequila, Mexico (b. 1925) is sometimes credited as the originator, though his own drink was the Batanga and he denied inventing the Paloma; he tended bar there until his death in 2020 at age 95. Grapefruit soda (Squirt or Jarritos Toronja) is non-negotiable; fresh juice + simple syrup + soda is an American substitution that misses the bottled-soda specific flavor.
