Latest Hot Cocktail: A Paloma Rises in Phoenix

Chicago-based mixologist Lisa Selman is always looking for a cocktail to heat things up—even in summery climates.

Enter the Smoked Paloma, one of Selman’s featured recipes for the latest Secret Dining Society in Phoenix. This isn’t a frilly cocktail with overly sweet or floral notes, but instead, it’s full of complexity.

“It has a really cool, unique flavor,” Selman says. “The grapefruit soda adds some complexity to it.”

There’s also a hint of saltiness throughout the drink, and the Roca Patrón Silver is complemented by smoky notes of a Lapsang souchong tea-infused smoked salt sugar syrup.

She continues, “You end up drinking a cocktail with a lot of body to it. It’s not what you necessarily think of drinking in a hot place like Phoenix.”

But Selman says for a city like Phoenix—and any city with a sweltering summer, for that matter—tequila is the perfect spirit.

“Tequila is like the whiskey of the South,” according to Selman. “It warms you up in a good way.”