Ranch water is the unofficial drink of West Texas: fresh lime and cold sparkling mineral water over ice, traditionally with a pour of tequila blanco. Legend has it ranchers around Marfa would take a swig off a cold Topo Chico and top the bottle back up with tequila and lime. A customer wrote in from his ranch with one addition, Raw Unflavored, and called the result just about the most perfect summertime drink. Raw Unflavored is mostly salt, so that is the salt rim mixed into the drink, and a full serving softens the lime's bite: sodium tames bitterness.
Ingredients
- 1 serving Saltivate Raw Unflavored (one stick pack; from the jar, start small and adjust to taste)
- 1/2 to 1 oz (15 to 30 ml) Fresh lime juice, one large lime
- 12 oz (355 ml) Cold sparkling mineral water or club soda
- Plenty of ice
- Lime wedge to garnish
- 1 1/2 oz (45 ml) Tequila blanco, optional
Steps
- In a large glass, stir the Raw Unflavored into the lime juice and tequila, if using, until it fully dissolves. Powder goes in before anything sparkling; it foams in carbonated water.
- Fill the glass with ice.
- Top slowly with the sparkling water. Stir once if you want it even; unstirred, it starts stronger at the bottom and mellows as the ice melts.
- Garnish with a lime wedge.
Per serving: about 110 kcal and 3g carbs with the tequila, close to zero without. One serving of Raw Unflavored adds 800mg sodium, 240mg potassium, and 60mg magnesium.
If agave drinks are your lane, try the Mango Pineapple Margarita or the Salty Orange Paloma. More ways to use the unflavored jar in the guide.
Serving suggestions and variations
Ranch water was built for hot-weather food: guacamole, salsa, and tortilla chips cover it.
- Shake it. Shake the lime juice, tequila, and Saltivate with ice before topping with the sparkling water. Colder and better mixed; a little more work.
- Make it spicy. Let a few jalapeno slices sit in the tequila for 10 to 15 minutes, or reach for a cucumber jalapeno tequila, and drop a slice in the glass.
- Bottle build. The traditional serve: drink the bottle down a third, then pour the lime, tequila, and Saltivate in. Dissolve the powder in the still liquids first and pour slowly; powder straight into a carbonated bottle foams over.
- Closer to a margarita. Add half an ounce of orange liqueur and use a touch more lime.
- Grapefruit version. Swap the lime for grapefruit and you are most of the way to our Salty Orange Paloma.
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