presidente

1 1/2 oz Bacardi Ocho Rum
3/4 oz Martini & Rossi Sweet Vermouth
1/4 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with an orange twist.
Two Mondays ago, I was invited to attend a class on rum aging held by Juan Coronado of Bacardi at the Blossom Bar in Brookline. Throughout the day, we were treated to Cuban-style drinks that ranged from classics like a Bacardi Superior-based Daiquiri a la 1898 to more recent ones like the Mulata Daisy crafted for a recent Bacardi Legacy competition. Indeed, beginning the session with a Daiquiri Time Out made for a great start to my Monday. One of the classics that I had never tried was called the Presidente. Well, I have had another version of the El Presidente before -- both with the older interpretation of dry vermouth and the more recent one with blanc vermouth along with rum, curaçao, and grenadine. Both Presidentes were crafted by Constantino Ribalaigua Vert at the Floradita Bar in Havana, but this one took the form of a Rum-hattan. In his Cocktails: Bar La Florida books, the editions up to 1937 have the Presidente as a Chambery vermouth (and the 1932 Sloppy Joe's Cocktail Book has it as a Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth recipe) but the 1939 one has it as "Ama Vermouth" which was here interpreted as sweet vermouth (the Sloppy Joe's Cocktail Book also included the Ama Vermouth brand but with no descriptor).

Presidente (1939)
• 1/2 Ama Vermouth
• 1/3 Bacardí Carta Oro
• 1/2 tsp Curaçao
Chill with crushed ice, strain, and serve with cherries and a peel of an orange.

The drink that Blossom Bar's Ran Duan made utilized a bit less vermouth and substituted Martini & Rossi Sweet Vermouth, added bitters, and skipped the cherries. Once prepared, the Presidente offered orange oil notes that complemented the curaçao's orange aroma. Next, a dark grape sip yielded to a rum, grape, and orange swallow that ended with an orange, clove, and allspice finish. Overall, this Presidente was much different in a Manhattan direction (as opposed to a Martini one) than the better known El Presidente recipe.