Rambunctious Pt . 1 – Daiquiri

Spring is here and summer is making its presence felt every evening as the days gets warmer and longer. This is the perfect time to start thinking about summer libations, in particular infamous, classic, rum cocktails. Nothing says summer, the way rum does and there are more variations than you can poke a stick at. Learning about rum is a slippery slope from the dry white rums to the sticky sweets and everything in between.

Rum has a sordid past, pirates, bootleggers & many a debaucherous, teenage night. But rum’s infamy is second only to its popularity throughout history. Fermented molasses, a by-product of sugar production has during the slave trade, explorations and inhabitation of new worlds been one of the biggest traded and used crops the world over. One of the first distilleries on the East Coast was for the production of rum, during prohibition, crude rum was made in BC and shipped to Seattle smuggled down on boats.

With the history of rum stretching back so far, cocktails have to come along with it. A lot of the truly classic rum cocktails came out of Cuba during the prohibition era. Barges were decked out from Florida to takes thirsty, wealthy Americans to the liquor drenched coast of Havana. In that era, bartenders or Cantineros were some of the most revered and best in the world, they created, mixed and entertained the rich & famous. One bar that stands out in history in Havana, El Floridita, famous for the Daiquiri. The tagline for the bar is “La Cuna del Daiquiri” which means The Cradle of the Daiquiri.

The Daiquiri was made famous by Hemingway himself, his love and affection for it earned him his own bronze statue at El Floridita. Originally created by a American mining engineer, Jennings Cox who named it after the region he was stationed in during the Spanish-American War. It made its way into the local cantinas and became a mainstay for many Cantineros of the time. El Floridita had one of the most impressive bars and programs of the US Prohibition era and many guests including Hemingway took advantage of it.

Hemingway had a distinct Daiquiri variation that he became very famous for. It is the Hemingway Daiquiri which he wrote about in the Islands in the Stream “This frozen daiquiri, so well beaten as it is, looks like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots.”; a mix of rum, maraschino, lime and grapefruit juice blended to perfection. Hemingway believed himself to be diabetic, although never substantiated, he never put sugar in his daiquiris.

The Hemingway Daiquiri is much more complex than a traditional Daiquiri but is still a far cry from the fruity mixes served at Caribbean hotel bars for the last fifty years. This drink and the immortalisation of Hemingway at El Floridita in Havana showcase a bygone era, an appreciation for a culture and drink that transcends time and trends. This is the epitome of summer in a glass, raise a glass for Papa this summer and enjoy the drink he loved so.

Hemingway Daiquiri

2 oz Havana Club 3 year
1/2 oz Fresh lime juice
3/4 oz Ruby red grapefruit juice
1 tsp Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

Two ways of making this, you can either blend with ice or shake & strain. If you blend, add a bit more maraschino for texture. Garnish with a cherry.