Daiquiri

Cuba's rum sour.

Though the name “daiquiri” may be inexorably linked to the frozen drink menu at strip mall chain restaurants these days, the true recipe is a classic that can stand toe-to-toe with the best. Essentially a rum sour, the credit for the recipe usually goes to a U.S. engineer living in Cuba during the Spanish-American war, though it’s more likely that Cuban residents had been drinking something similar for some time. Famously associated with author Ernest Hemingway and the jet-set glamour of pre-embargo Cuba in the 1930s, the Daiquiri would rise in popularity in the United States during World War II, as Caribbean rum became much easier to procure than foreign whiskey.

Ingredients

Serving: 1

  • 2 ounces rum, light or white
  • 2 ounces rum, light or white
  • 3/4 ounce lime juice
  • 3/4 ounce lime juice
  • 3/4 ounce simple syrup (1:1, sugar:water)
  • 3/4 ounce simple syrup (1:1, sugar:water)

Garnish: lime wheel

Directions
  1. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker.
  2. Add ice and shake until chilled.
  3. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass.
  4. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Tagged: Cuba, Hemingway, rum