The Daiquiri; a cocktail bartenders favourite, well mine anyway. This classic cocktail is usually followed by words like strawberry, raspberry or frozen, but there is much more to this cocktail than the frozen drink it has now become.
History of the Daiquiri:
In 1898 the US began mining Iron Ore in Cuba, in a little town called Santiago De Cuba. The first expedition was led by an engineer named Jennings Cox. His destination was a place on the south eastern shore of Cuba near the Seirra Maestra Mountains. the nearest town to where Cox was working, was a place called Daiquiri. The men were attracted to the mining in Cuba by the reward of high salaries, and included in this salary was a bottle of local white rum.
There are tow versions of the story of the how the Daiquiri came about. One being that during a meeting with another engineer, Cox set about making a drink from what he had at his disposal at the time; a bottle of rum, limes and sugar.
the second story comes from his granddaughter she recounted that while entertaining some American guests one evening he ran out of gin, being weary of giving them straight rum he added lime and sugar to make it easier for them to drink.
Which ever story it you prefer is your choice, but what is clear Cox had created something quite special.
The name of the Daiquiri came about after some time. Cox was in a bar one evening with some friends, realising that the drink had no name he declared to his friends "Gentlemen and friends, we have been drinking this combination for awhile now. Don't you think that we should baptise it?" After a brief silence he said "I have it we shall call it Daiquiri, after this little town where it was created.
The Daiquiri's popularity grew on the island of Cuba, but its popularity would grow much more. In 1909 Admiral Lucius Johnson returned from the Spanish - American war and introduced the cocktail to the Army & Navy Club in Washington D.C. It was from there that the Daiquiri spread across the country to bars and clubs.
The Recipe:
If you were to look through an old cocktail book from the renowned La Flordita Bar in Cuba, you will see that under the Daiquiri, the list of ingredients has the word Limòns this is due to there being no word for lime in Spanish.
Jennings Cox original recipe (Serves 6):
The juice of 6 limòns (limes)
6 Teaspoons of sugar
6 Bacardi cups “Carta Blanca”
2 small cups of mineral water.
Plenty of crushed ice
Put all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake well.
Personally I prefer my Daiquiri’s a bit on the sharp side, so this is my personal favourite recipe. I
make mine with caster sugar and before some wise-guy says, “the sugar won’t dissolve and all you
taste is lime”, if you were to put in the lime and sugar first, stir it around and then it will dissolve.
My Daiquiri Recipe (Serves One):
2 Barspoons of Caster sugar.
20mls of Lime juice.
50mls of White Rum.
Instructions:
Put the lime and caster sugar into a mixing glass and stir for a few seconds to help the sugar to dissolve.
Next add the rum (whatever rum you chose is up to you I normally use Bacardi, but not bound to it) fill the shaker with cubed ice and shake well.
Double strain into a chilled glass and garnish with a lime wedge on the side of the glass or a lime zest on top.
