Time has not been kind to the reputation of the Daiquiri. Mention Daiquiri to many and the first image is of a brightly coloured, oversweet, alcoholic slushy. There’s more to the Daiquiri however, and it is a drink that requires more attention and respect. Peer further into the past and a more elegant, classic cocktail emerges. Think back in time, to 19th century Cuba.
Birth:
The Daiquiri goes back to the late 1890s, when it was originally created by two American expatriates - Jennings Cox and Harry Stout. These men worked in Cuba for the Spanish American Iron company, a Cuban subsidiary of Pennsylvania Steel. This operation was in the mountainous coastal village of Daiquiri, near Santiago, which is the headquarters of Bacardi Rum. Fever was a real problem at this time given the poor water quality near the coast. As a remedy against this, workers would use diluted alcohol as a disinfectant against germs, adding white rum to their boiled drinking water. This doctored water tasted so bad the two Americans squeezed a lime and added some sugar to modify the acidity. Cox and Stout acquired a taste for this combination, so when visiting Santiago, they would specify this drink, cooled with ice. The drink gained appeal in Santiago and beyond. They christened it the Daiquiri.
The Daiquiri might have remained a domestic curiosity, but a simultaneous event in Cuba catalysed the cocktail’s popularity. In 1898, the US forcibly removed Cuba from Spain in the short-lived Spanish-American war. The US marines landed in Cuba on June 22, and occupied Santiago after a brief, lacklustre campaign. During this period, Admiral Lucius Johnson of the US Navy ran into Cox and his Daiquiri cocktail. Johnson and his men were duly impressed. They took Cox’s recipe, plus a large quantity of rum back to their gentlemen’s club, the ‘Army and Navy’ in Washington DC. The Daiquiri Lounge was set up on the premises of the Army and Navy Club and the cocktail’s colonisation of the US had begun.
Original Daiquiri (per Cox and Stout):
1 ½ ounces Carta Bianca Bacardi
2 teaspoons sugar
Juice of 1 ½ small limes
Shake over cracked ice, pour into tall cocktail glass.
The fundamentals of the drink are simple, however there is scope to modify the proportions per personal preference. The bon vivant Charles Baker – in his cocktail opus The Gentleman’s Companion, Volume 2 - suggested upping the dosage of rum (to 2 ounces), reducing the lime (to 1 lime), and adding 3-4 drops of orange flower water to the completed cocktail to brighten the drink.
Emergence:
As interest in the refreshing Cuban cocktail grew, more bars emerged that broadened the drinks popularity. The most famous of these remains La Floridita in Habana, a bar that ranks with Harry’s Bar in Paris for its iconic and timeless appeal. A bar has existed on this site since 1820, when it was called La Pina de Plata, however the US military campaign caused the owners to reposition themselves with a more American sounding name. By the early 1900s, La Floridita was gaining interest as a drinking destination, but it was really the genius of their head barman, Constantino Ribailagua, who took the Daiquiri to the next level of hedonic pleasure. Constantino was a Catalan immigrant who started work at La Floridita in 1914 and remained in post for over 30 years, and it is his version of the drink that earned him the moniker ‘El Rey de los Cocteles’.
Daiquiri #3 (per Ribailagua):
2 ounces Carta Bianca Bacardi
1 teaspoons sugar
Juice of ½ lime, squeezed by hand over shaker
1 teaspoon fresh grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon maraschino
Shake resolutely over cracked ice, pour into champagne coupe full of shaved ice.
While the original Daiquiri is direct and effective, the addition of the maraschino and grapefruit juice adds far more complexity to the cocktail. It’s delicious.
Arrival:
After World War 1, Cuba really got into its stride as a tourist destination. The combination of clement weather, colonial architecture, beautiful woman and the Daiquiri cocktail was irresistible to pleasure seekers from the United States and further afield. Constantino continued to enchant his customers, including one patron that requires little in the way of introduction, Ernest Hemmingway. Hemmingway had an uncanny affinity for the finest bars around the world, and La Floridita was no exception.
The great man would consume these in prodigious quantities during his tenure in Habana. He was a man of appetites and strong opinions, and he expressly instructed Constantino to produce his Daiquiri in larger volumes with less sugar. Enter the Papa Doble.
Papa Doble (per Hemmingway):
2 ½ ounces Carta Bianca Bacardi
Juice of 2 limes
Juice of 1 grapefruit
6 drops of maraschino
Blend with cracked ice in an electric blender. Pour into large goblets. Repeat. This version dials back the sweetness and dials up the coldness. The coldness is a critical element, both in its enjoyment and overall aesthetic.
It is Hemmingway who articulates it best, in his book Islands in the Stream in what William Grimes - in his cocktail history Straight up or on the Rocks - has characterized as the finest description of a drink in American Literature. To quote:
‘Thomas Hudson, with a painter’s eye, takes a good long look in his glass “at the clear part below the frapped top.” He likes what he sees: “It reminded him of the sea. The frappeed part of the drink was like the wake of a ship and the clear part was the way the water looked when the bow cut it when you were in shallow water over marl bottom. That was almost the exact colour.”
Quite so. Hard to beat that.
Hemmingway’s presence and advocacy in the 1930s and 1940s accelerated the Daiquiri’s popularity. Its impact on La Floridita is undeniable. As a thrist-quencher and overall gloom lifter it is critical. Its timing during these endless heatwaves is providential.
Sources: Straight up or on the Rocks, William Grimes; Esquire Handbook for Hosts, David Embury; Gentlemen’s Companion, Charles H Baker
