The grandfather of Daiquiri is the quintessentially Cuban Drink – the Canchánchara. It is a drink that was invented in the 19th century by the guerrilla fighters in the 10-year fight for Cuba’s independence from Spain. The Canchánchara is made with rum, lemon and honey that was an efficient cure for thirst as well as a painkiller for the injured. No wonder a bottle of Canchánchara was often seen hung on the saddle of a soldiers’ mount.
The origins of Daiquiri can be found in the Spanish – American Civil War. Although the circumstances surrounding its birth seem to a little murky, most people, however, can agree on two things: that Jennings S. Cox, an American mining engineer is credited as the creator for this drink in 1898 and that it is named after the Cuban mining city of Daiquiri where it was created.
Whatever might be the origins, the recipe for this cocktail (for 6 people) was recorded by Cox in his logbook. It just could be that he was the first to record the actual recipe for a drink that had been around since 1740; namely The Grog that was made with the same ingredients. Perhaps the only difference could be that Jennings Daiquiri was made with Bacardi Carta Blanca and traditionally the Navy Rum from which The Grog was created was a dark rum, though there is no record to suggest the category of rum used by the navy in 1740.
In 1909 a U.S Naval Medical Officer Lucius W. Johnson is said to have met Cox on the Daiquiri Beach and when he was introduced to the cocktail, he instantly fell in love with it. He brought the recipe of this cocktail to the Army & Navy Club in Washington, D.C.
The Daiquiri, however, had to wait for the Prohibition to get over to become famous. Although it did not gain popularity until the 1940s in the US, the Daiquiri was well-loved in Havana. It became the signature drink in a bar called El Floridita where the head bartender Constante Ribalugua invented The Frozen Daiquiri in the 1930s.
“This frozen daiquiri, so well beaten as it is, looks like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots.” – Ernest Hemingway – Islands in the Stream
One cannot discuss the Daiquiri and not mention the man who played a significant role in the notoriety of this cocktail – Ernest Hemingway. As per Hemingway’s niece, Hemingway, popped into the El Floridita looking for the restroom. He heard the people in the bar bragging about the frozen Daiquiris and decided to try one. He asked Ribalaigua for another one but with “less sugar and more rum”. Hence, Papa Doble was born. He was affectionately known as “Papa” in Havana and Doble for the double shot of rum!
It is said that Hemingway once drank 15 of these Daiquiris in one evening!
Sometime later, especially once Antonio Meilan took over as the head bartender at La Floridita the original Papa Doble recipe was changed by adding some maraschino and grapefruit juice into the cocktail to make it more palatable to the public and became known as a Hemingway Special Daiquiri
DAIQUIRI
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
All said and done, the Daiquiri will remain one of the classics for its simplicity of using just three-ingredients.
HEMINGWAY DAIQUIRI
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
