Hemingway Daiquiri

This drink is often called the Hemingway Daiquiri. It was a favorite drink of the writer and notorious drinkers. The La Florida Bar was one of Hemingway’s haunts in Havana, Cuba. This is what he drank when he was there.

“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

The La Florida Bar became known by the diminutive term La Floridita. This is where the name comes from. This classic daiquiri recipe will let you drink like Hemingway.

La Floridita Daiquiri

Glass: chilled coupe
2 oz. white rum
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 oz. maraschino liqueur
Garrnish: lime wheel

Blended:
In a blender, combine rum, lime and grapefruit juices, and maraschino liqueur.
Fill blender with just enough ice so that the ice is just covered by liquid.
Blend on high for 30 seconds or until you reach your desired consistency.
Pour into chilled coupe glass.
Shaken:
In a cocktail shaker, combine rum, lime and grapefruit juices, and maraschino liqueur.
Shake well for 10-15 seconds.
Fine strain into a chilled coupe glass.

Blended VS shaken: Blended drinks have fallen out of favor with the craft cocktail set in recent years. The association with overly sweet, artificially flavored mixes poured into dive bar slushy machines hasn’t helped. There is a case to be made that this drink probably tastes better blended. It is also the way Hemingway drank them. Try it both ways.

This recipe is adapted from the 1934 La Florida Cocktails book.

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