National Daiquiri Day - July 19

I don't know who came up with the notion of National Daiquiri Day, but I'm not going to let that stop me from celebrating. The Daiquiri has a long and storied history, one that's well worth remembering.

It begins in 1898 in Cuba, with an engineer named Jennings Stockton Cox. Cox was in a small mining town named - you guessed it - Daiquiri. As the story goes, Cox was looking for a way to beat the tropical heat and humidity, and combined three local products: sugar, fresh lime juice, and Bacardi rum, which was produced in nearby Santiago.

To recreate the original Daiquiri, forget the blender. Of course there was no blender. It was only 1898, after all. The first Daiquiri was incredibly easy. Fill a tall glass with cracked ice. Add a teaspoon of sugar, and the juice of 1 or 2 fresh limes. Pour in 3 ounces of rum, and stir until frosty cold.

Although there are any number of blender drinks served today that are called Daiquiris, purists will be quick to disagree. The true Daiquiri has evolved from its early days, though, and now should be made by combining the ingredients in a shaker. Shake until icy cold, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

In its earliest years, the Daiquiri was only a local favorite. According to Salvatore Calabrese in the Complete Home Bartender's Guide, its popularity began to grow in 1909 when it was introduced at the Army and Navy Club in Washington D.C. The cocktail really took off in the 1940s, when Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy opened up trade and rum became easily available.

The Daiquiri also had its celebrity fans, including President John F. Kennedy, but probably no one is more associated with the Daiquiri than Ernest Hemingway. He favored those at La Floridita in Havana, and has been quoted as saying, "My mojito in La Bodeguita, my daiquiri in El Floridita." It probably didn't hurt that the bartender at El Floridita, Constantino Ribalaigua Vert, created the version now known as Papa Doble for Hemingway, who apparently drank a dozen or more at a sitting.

Papa Doble Daiquiri Recipe
from La Floridita booklet, circa 1939

2 oz. white rum
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp. maraschino liqueur
1 tsp. grapefruit juice
Mix all ingredients with shaved ice in a shaker, and shake until icy. Strain over crushed or shaved ice in a rocks glass.