Wednesday, May 10, 2017

hemingway daiquiri

2 oz Banks 5 Island Rum (Plantation 3 Star)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a lime wheel.
After making the Dovetail a few nights before, it dawned on me that I had never written about the Hemingway Daiquiri despite having had and made plenty at both home and work and riffed on the general recipe such as in the Maneater. The recipe that I sourced two Wednesdays ago was from the PDT Cocktail Book for it was the closest to the recipe I make at work (1 1/2 oz Privateer Silver, 1/2 oz each grapefruit juice, lime juice, and Maraschino) since many recipes have less grapefruit in the mix. Author Jim Meehan described the drink as the "Cuban Bar La Florida's Daiquiri #3 served without the sugar for diabetic author and barfly Ernest Hemingway." Looking at my copy of La Florida Cocktail Book, their Daiquiri #3 was listed as follows:
Daiquiri Num. 3
• 2 oz Bacardi Rum
• 1 spoon Sugar
• 1 tsp Grapefruit Juice
• 1 tsp Maraschino
• Juice 1/2 lime
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Serve frappe.
Despite the sugar or simple syrup being removed in the PDT and many other recipes for the Hemingway Daiquiri, the citrus' tartness is balanced by a higher proportion of Maraschino liqueur (other recipes, split the Maraschino with simple syrup to tone down the overall nuttiness or specifically call for a less nutty Maraschino liqueur brand such as Stock or Maraska). The reason I prefer a bit more grapefruit in the mix is that it helps to differentiate the #3 and the Hemingway Daiquiris from the Daiquiri #4 (rum, sugar, Maraschino, lime juice). Once prepared, the Hemingway Daiquiri shared a lime and nutty cherry aroma. Next, the citrusy sip of lime and grapefruit had hints of cherry, and the swallow gave forth rum and cherry flavors with a tart grapefruit finish.

2 comments:

Dagreb said...

I'm having one tonight!
Cheers!

JP said...

Greetings from Atlanta. I've been sort of fascinated by this cocktail for a while, did some internet "sleuthing," found a WST article on the drink (Hemingway's Daiquiri, by ERIC FELTEN, 24 May 2008). Here are a few quotes from that article and a final comment:

"After meeting Hemingway over Daiquiris in 1948, A.E. Hotchner went on to
drink innumerable Papa Dobles at the Floridita with the great man himself, and
he paid attention to what Constante was doing. "A Papa Doble was compounded
of two and a half jiggers of Bacardi White Label Rum, the juice of two limes and
half a grapefruit and six drops of maraschino..." Hemingway "made a run of sixteen here one night."

"A fanatic for dessication in his drinks, Hemingway allowed no sugar in his
Daiquiris. His Doble-drinking hero in the posthumously published "Islands in
the Stream" declares that what makes him love to drink is "drinking these
double frozens without sugar.""

"To garnish a Papa Doble with a cherry is a small act of desecration (and I trust no one would be so nasty minded as to put any of the Day-Glo syrup from a modern cherry jar in the drink itself)."

"The Papa Doble "had no taste of alcohol," Hemingway wrote, "and felt, as you drank them, the way downhill glacier skiing feels running through powder snow.""

At home, I more-or-less follow the fruit/rum proportions above (about 3 shots of rum) and put it in a big glass full of crushed ice. Sad to say, though, I like the Day-Glo cherry on a tooth pick and a splash of its juice as a floater, both for a layer of color on top (makes a very pretty Easter-egg colored drink) and a bit of decadent flavor.

Cheers!