And, oh yes—happy Cinco de Mayo, to those who celebrate.

If your answer to that headline question is “the Margarita” … you are sadly wrong. It’s the Paloma, at least according to cocktail historian and raconteur David Wondrich.

Truth told, it may not be either cocktail, because the Paloma and Margarita are both chronological infants compared to ageless Mexican culture and the history of tequila, which appeared in Mexico around the 17th century.

In fact, according to my favorite Mexican, Ms. Rosa G, Palomas and Margaritas are probably equally popular in Mexico, with some differences of preference in various regions. As for Cinco de Mayo? Well, it’s not a national thing down there. Rosa told me it’s celebrated in the state of Puebla, where the Mexicans kicked the “culo” of Napoleon III’s army, but only gets a nod elsewhere in Mexico. Said Rosa, “I think I’ve seen more people celebrate here than I ever did in Mexico.”

But whether it’s Palomas or Margaritas, tequila is involved (as I have said on more than one painful morning).

Wondrich reports that the Paloma as such first appeared in 1950 in a brochure for Squirt, the U.S.-based grapefruit-flavored soda. The brochure suggested mixing tequila with Squirt, which wasn’t exactly a new idea in Mexico, where people had long been enjoying the Changuirongo (say it 10 times fast!)—a mixture of tequila with a sweet soda such as Coca Cola, ginger ale, or Fanta. By the early 1970s, Squirt was advertising the mixture aggressively in the United States (“Tequila has appeala with Squirt”).

So there you have it: The Paloma originated as a simple Squirt-and-tequila, which is only a little harder to say than “Rum and Coke,” and the moniker Paloma (Spanish for ‘dove’) didn’t appear until the 1990s, by when the drink had evolved to include lime juice and salt.

Today, there are at least two schools of thought about the Paloma: One that hews to the original grapefruit soda and tequila approach, and another that replaces the grapefruit soda with fresh grapefruit juice, a little sugar (simple syrup), and sparkling water.

I’m going with the juice-and-sparkling water treatment, just because I like it.

THE PALOMA
2 oz Tequila (my favorite is El Tesoro Blanco)
1½ oz Freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice
¾ oz Freshly squeezed lime juice
½ oz Simple or agave syrup (adjust to taste)
2 oz Sparkling water (I love Topo Chico)
Salt

Pour the sparkling water into a chilled Collins glass and set it aside. Combine all other ingredients in a cocktail shaker, and add 3-4 grinds of salt (¼ teaspoon or to taste) or 5-10 drops of 20% saline solution. Shake with ice until chilled. Add ice into the Collins glass and strain the mix from the shaker into the glass. NOTE: Keep a ‘sidecar’ glass handy; you’ll probably have more drink than the Collins glass will hold, so pour the extra into the sidecar to add after you’ve sipped the cocktail down a ways.

Place a swizzle stick in the glass and stir once gently to integrate the sparkling water. Garnish with a wedge or wheel of lime; consider sipping the drink through a reusable straw.