4 Ways with Daiquiris

Located at map coordinates 19° 55’ 18” N and 75° 38′ 31″ W is the tiny, pleasant sounding Caribbean beachfront of Playa Daiquirí. Near Cuba’s second largest city of Santiago de Cuba (the largest city, of course, is Havana), Playa Daiquirí was a busy iron exporting port until the mid 1930’s.

Later that decade, Ernest Hemingway arrived in Havana, and was smitten by the island of Cuba’s beauty, energy and adventure. At La Floridita, a bar close to his hotel, Hemingway became a fan of the house specialty, El Daiquirí Floridita, rumored to have been developed during the iron exporting heyday in the port of Playa Daiquirí. Papa Hemingway (as he became known) developed such an affinity for the cocktail that the proprietor of La Floridita tweaked the classic daiquiri recipe to reflect his personal preference of double rum, and named it the Papa Doble.

Picture the ambience of Hemingway’s Cuba: romantic but sweltering. And while dabbing your forehead with a hanky may appear glamorous, there isn’t a hanky on this planet that can refresh like an icy cold cocktail. Achieving a profoundly chilled daiquiri has always been a vital element to daiquiri enjoyment, so naturally the idea of making a frozen daiquiri frappé popped into an enterprising barkeep’s tourist-attracting imagination. Commercial sweet frozen daiquiris dominated the disco and club scene through the 1980’s, with the classic shaken daiquiri virtually forgotten. In recent years, daiquiris have all but disappeared from bar menus, abandoned for more stylish swigs like cosmos and caramel apple-tinis. 

But like all classics, daiquiris deserve a second sip. A well-crafted daiquiri is simply a rum sour, splashed with a bit of fresh lime juice, sweetened with a teaspoon of sugar, and shaken with cracked ice. No fancy mixes or powders are necessary. Choose a white rum to keep your classic daiquiri brisk and refreshing.

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Strawberry and banana daiquiris use sweet flavored liqueurs as a substitute for the teaspoonful of sugar. Giving the mixture a spin in the blender with ice will give you the frozen slush type of daiquiri many of us are familiar with (Was that your first alcoholic beverage too? Thought so…) but try a shaken strawberry daiquiri for a more sophisticated quaff.

Many of the recipes we found for the Papa Doble list Maraschino cherries as an ingredient, but we just couldn’t believe that Hemingway’s favorite cocktail included a neon pink fruit garnish. After a bit of investigation, we discovered that the original Papa Doble calls for Italian Luxardo Maraschino liqueur. Made with an infusion of Luxardo Marasca sour cherry skins in a cherry stone distillate, colorless Luxardo Maraschino liqueur is aged, deeply flavorful, and has nothing in common with the jarred Maraschino cherries seen atop our hot fudge sundaes.

Like a book we read in high school, some classics deserve to be revisited. We know that and ice cold daiquiri would be the perfect epilogue to a hot summer day’s beach adventure. 

Next, classic daiquiri recipes to quench your thirst…

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Classic Daiquiri 

• 1 1/2 ounces white rum (1 jigger)
• juice of 1 Key Lime
• 1 teaspoon superfine sugar
• 1 cup cracked ice

Get the full recipe. 

Fresh Banana Daiquiri

• 3 onces white rum (2 jiggers)
• 1/2 very ripe banana
• 1 ounce banana liqueur
• 2 cups cracked ice
• 2 teaspoons superfine sugar (optional)

Get the full recipe. 

Next, more daiquiri recipes, including Hemingways special Papa Doble…

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Hemingway’s Frozen Special Daiquiri

• 3 ounces white rum (2 jiggers)
• juice of 1 Key lime
• 1 ounce fresh grapefruit juice
• 1/2 ounce Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• 1 cup cracked ice

Get the full recipe.

Shaken Strawberry Daiquiri

• 3 ounces white rum (2 jiggers)
• 2 fresh strawberries
• 1 ounce crème de fraise (strawberry liqueur)
• 2 cups cracked ice

Get the full recipe.