president roosevelt

2 oz Rum (Don Q Añejo)
1 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1 tsp Sugar

Stir sugar in juices until dissolved. Add rest of ingredients and ice, shake, and strain into a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass. I added an orange twist.

Last Monday was Presidents Day, and Andrea and I wanted to celebrate in style. In Esquire Drinks: An Opinionated & Irreverent Guide to Drinking, David Wondrich provides the recipe for the Presidente Vincent which is a reasonably well known recipe. The drink named after Sténio Vincent, the Haitian president during the 1930s, has some similarities to the classic El Presidente as well as to the Daiquiri. It calls for Haitian rum (although Wondrich recommends substituting Martinician or gold Puerto Rican rum), a full ounce of lime juice, and no orange juice but otherwise the same as the recipe above. The lesser known President Roosevelt variation pays tribute to Franklin's love of Orange Blossoms by splitting the juice portion into half lime and half orange. Trader Vic simplified the drink in the 1948 edition of his book to contain Bacardi, orange juice, and grenadine; while it is closer to a rum-based Orange Blossom, it is a lot less interesting of a flavor profile than the Presidente Vincent variation.
The President Roosevelt started with an orange and aged rum aroma, and these two notes carried over on the sip. On the swallow, the lime stood out more than the orange and was accompanied by the dry vermouth's botanicals. The sugared rim here did not hurt, but it is probably more necessary to adjust the balance of the tarter Presidente Vincent. When compared directly to a Daiquiri, the President Roosevelt's orange juice smoothed out the drink while the dry vermouth added an extra layer of herbalness that the Daiquiri is lacking. Not a bad way to celebrate one of our nation's presidents (please note that Teddy Roosevelt though was a teetotaler and preferred coffee to the hard stuff).