The Cocktail Hour - Daiquiri

Hemingway's favorite drink.  

Watch the Video!

Originated in Cuba and named after Playa Daiquiri near Santiago.  Although popularized by the El Foridita Bar in Havana, it was invented at Venus Bar in Santiago by Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer.  Supposedly, the bar ran out of gin but had a lot of rums, limes, and sugar...three things that are in abundance in Cuba.

Besides Hemingway, the drink became popular during World War II as rum was one of the few commodities that was not rationed.  This week, we present it in it's historical incarnation.  It's not blended, flavored in any extra way, and served just as Ernie would have had it.


In the video, we cheated just a little by using coconut infused rum for extra flavor and putting the finished product in an old fashioned glass on the rocks.  The coconut rum was used because I'd tried the recipe before and never got it right...I was intimidated.  The glass was because Tim can't use a cocktail glass.

Be assured, however, that after filming we did try the original recipe with cocktail glasses and it came out fantastic. That recipe is the one on this page.  Turns out the key is to not be shy with the lime juice.  Enjoy!

DAIQUIRI (two drinks)
3 ounces white rum
2 ounces simple syrup
3 key limes

Fill a cocktail shaker half full with crushed ice.  Cut the limes in half.  Squeeze the juice of all the limes into the shaker.  Put the rum and simple syrup in the shaker.  Cover and shake.  Strain into two cocktail glasses.

Cheers,
-Darryl and Tim
Daiquiri photo courtesy of Wikimedia
Aaron Gustafon under CC-BY-SA license