For this month’s Mixology Monday, Rick over at Kaiser Penguin has chosen the theme Limit One as a nod to those classic tiki drinks that came with such a warning label attached. Of course, this had less to do with the patron’s concern for the customer’s well-being and more to do with marketing and generating what today we would call “buzz”. I believe the first drink to bear this warning was Don the Beachcomber’s Zombie, but many followed in this vein, normally mixing enormous quantities of different rums together to make drinks that would leave you hung-over if you happened to glance in their direction.

I didn’t want to do a tiki drink, because I reckon that about 80% of this month’s entries will be tiki, so I’m going to talk about the Papa Doble, even though I actually already covered it way back in June last year. If you read that post you’ll notice that I highlight a discrepancy with that recipe, because it contains the same amount of rum as a regular Daiquiri, yet the drink supposedly owes part of its name to being a double.

This Drinkboy forum thread has a convincing explanation in the form of a different recipe to the one I originally posted, this one from a book called Papa Hemingway - A Personal Memoir by A.E. Hotchner. Actually, I recommend you read the Amazon extract of that book to get a little vignette both of Hemingway and also of Havana back in the good old days.

Back to the recipe, this new one comes in at a sturdy 4 ounces (well, 3 3/4, but I rounded up) of rum, which is about twice as much as a normal Daiquiri takes, and also twice as much lime juice, so it now passes the “double” test. As well as much more grapefruit juice, another variation is that this drink is blended, whereas I mixed up the first version in a shaker.

So how does it measure up? Well, it’s not that different from just making two of my first recipe, but somehow it’s missing something. I’m going to notch it up to the fact that it’s still winter, and you really need to be in the searing heat to fully enjoy this ice-cold wonder…

Recipe:

4 oz. White Rum
2 oz. Lime juice
1 oz. Grapefruit juice
1/4 oz. Maraschino liqueur

Blend with 3/4 cup of crushed ice and serve in a large goblet.

Notes:

Very cold, sour and bitter. A killer combination in the summer, but maybe overkill in March.

Rating:

- Make the smaller version, at least that way you can have twice as many…

Head on over to Kaiser Penguin to see the rest of this Monday’s entries.

Not your standard rum’n'coke, a properly made Cuba Libre has fresh ingredients, fine booze and balance. Indeed, it is a refreshing drink to be sipped and enjoyed, not just another alcohol-delivery mechanism for teenagers.

As with any good drink, nobody is sure how the name came about. There is no denying that Cuba Libre! was a popular expression both during and after Fidel Castro’s communist revolution. Some say that the name is derived from its two main ingredients, Cuba referring to the rum and Libre (or Free) referring to the American Coca-Cola.

Either way, the ingredient everyone always forgets, and that elevates a proper Cuba Libre beyond being just another common drink, is Lime juice. Just a little, in combination with respecting the proportions of rum-to-Coke, goes a long way. Once you’ve tried it properly made, you won’t go back.

Also, you should use a gold or dark rum for this. The flavour of a light rum won’t really make it through the Coke. Cuban rum is always more authentic, but one of my rum taste-tests is always the Cuba-Libre so I’ll try anything. For a good dark Cuban rum, try Havana Club 7-year-old, or Matusalén. The original was probably made with Bacardi, and even though Bacardi is no longer cuban, their 8-year-old is also nice.

Finally, use classic Coke. All the other varieties (especially Diet Coke) taste strange and not what you’re after at all.

This has been the final installment in cuban classics but for the next few days I’ll probably keep writing about summer standards. Stay tuned!

Recipe:

2 oz. gold or dark Rum
1/2 oz. Lime juice
6 oz. Coca-Cola

Rub the rim of a tall glass with the peel of a lime wedge. Fill it with ice, and pour in the rum followed by the Coke. Squeeze in the juice from a couple of lime wedges, and drop one into the glass.

Notes:

There isn’t really much to say, except that I recommend you try many different rums. But maybe not all of them on the same day… Also, you can vary the proportions to your liking, but try not to make the drink too strong or too weak, it will lose character.

Some recipes for the Cuba Libre include Gin, although I don’t know where that idea came from. You can try it if you like, about half as much gin as rum, it’s not unpleasant.

Rating:

- Well made, it’s always a great drink.

According to cuban legend, El Presidente was a recipe of Major-General Mario García Menocal, who during his tenure as president of Cuba (1913 - 1921) once entered La Floridita and requested that this drink be prepared for him. Other sources say the drink was invented by a cuban bartender and named in honour of the serving president of the time. Either way, the consensus is on a 1910’s/1920’s origin in Havana.

Researching this drink was interesting. Everywhere I looked, I was unable to find an agreed-upon recipe. I checked both english- and spanish-language sources, and I noticed one detail. Most recipes in english use dry vermouth as an ingredient, whereas recipes in spanish unanimously require sweet vermouth. I suspect that the source of confusion is in the details. many of the recipes that call for sweet vermouth specify that it must be white. This implies the italian bianco variety, which is white and sweet. Maybe this detail became distorted as the recipe traveled, and since dry vermouth is white in colour, the recipe changed.

I’m listing the recipe as using sweet vermouth because, well, I don’t have any dry vermouth at home, and having tried the sweet version, I doubt that using dry vermouth would work any better.

Recipe:

1 1/2 oz. white cuban Rum
1 oz. bianco italian Vermouth
1/2 oz. orange Curaçao
a few drops of Grenadine

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Notes:

Given all the different versions of this drink available, there are many variations. I used Cointreau due to lack of Curaçao, and I think this might have made the drink worse. Possibly the sweeter notes of the Curaçao work better in the drink. Still, I’m not willing to experiment too much with this drink, I don’t think there would be enough improvement to justify it.

Rating:

- Not my thing.

As well as being a famous bar in Havana, as mentioned in yesterday’s Papa Doble post, El Floridita gives its name to not one, but two cocktails.

One is also known as the Floridita Daiquiri, and is something in between the original Daiquiri and the Papa Doble. The other recipe is more interesting, and so I’ll focus on that one today.

Interestingly, I have been unable to find any information about this drink’s history, and I’m also too lazy to make something up on a Sunday afternoon, so I think I’ll just veg out in front of the TV and try to forget about having to work tomorrow. But I’ll have a couple of these.

Recipe:

1 1/2 oz. white cuban Rum
1/2 oz. Lime juice
1/2 oz. Italian Vermouth
1/4 oz. white Creme de Cacao
1/8 oz. Grenadine

Shake with ice in a cocktail shaker and serve in a cocktail glass.

Notes:

I first tried this cocktail shortly after starting to explore the world of cocktails, a few years ago. I was struck by how well the chocolate touch combines with the refreshing qualities of the traditional cuban rum+lime combination. Looking around the net, it seems that everyone else who mentions the drink has the same impression. If you haven’t tried it, you really should.

Rating:

- A pleasantly unusual drink.

Ernest Hemingway, a famous drinker who apparently wrote a few books too, was a regular customer at the famous Havana watering hole La Floridita. Here, he enjoyed all the usual perks of a regular - his own place by the bar, a friendly relationship with the owner and head bartender, Constantino Ribalagua, and of course, his regular drink.

Hemingway had three requirements for his perfect drink: It should not be artificially sweetened with sugar or any kind of syrup, it must be ice-cold and it must be strong. It turns out that the famous Daiquiri already being served at La Floridita was pretty close to what he was after.

Removing the sugar killed the balance of the drink, so he added some maraschino liqueur as a sweetening agent, and some grapefruit juice to get the flavour just right. To get the drink cold enough, he insisted on shaking with crushed ice instead of cubed ice, and also had the drink served with ice instead of straining it.

Making the drink stronger was just a case of making it a double. This also indirectly named the drink, since the drink was actually named after Hemingway’s nickname, Papa Doble, a nickname he earned by always ordering doubles.

So that’s the theory, anyway. On to the practice.

Recipe:

2 oz. white cuban Rum
1 oz. Lime juice
1/4 oz. Maraschino Liqueur
1/4 oz. Grapefruit juice

Pour all ingredients over crushed ice in a shaker, and shake the hell out of it. Serve the whole mess into a double rocks glass. I doubt that Hemingway bothered with a garnish, but you can’t go wrong with a lime wheel.

You can also blend everything together in a blender.

Notes:

My first thought after trying the Papa Doble (once I managed to pry my frozen fingers from the shaker) was “this could use some sugar.” My second thought was “wow, this is cold!” After sipping on the rest of the drink, though, I think I quite like it. It is bitter, but still refreshing, in a similar way to Campari.

Alert readers will have noticed that although this is supposed to be a double, the amount of rum is the same as in a regular Daiquiri. I imagine that it should be served as twice what is in the recipe. That would be 4 ounces of rum, etc. If this is not so, and someone knows how this works, feel free to leave a comment enlightening us.
Rating:

- Makes you feel like a suicidal alcoholic in a third-world nation. But in a good way.

Following on from the other day’s Mojito, I’ll be bringing out a few cuban classics during the next few days (a post by Keith Waldbauer gave me the idea). Today’s drink is the Daiquiri.

There is a story behind the Daiquiri which is treated as history within Cuba, but met with skepticism elsewhere. According to legend, and corroborated by cuban historian Fernando G. Campoamor, the Daiquiri came about in 1899 when a Captain Cox of the US Army was visiting the manager of a mine in the town of Daiquirí, in eastern Cuba. The heat was such, that they had to do something about it.

Since they weren’t in a bar, they had to make do with what they had on hand. This turned out to be rum, lime juice and sugar, along with plenty of ice. They mixed all this up in a shaker, and decided that this fantastic new drink needed a name. They didn’t think too hard, and gave the drink the name of the town they were in. This is how the drink was born.

From here, the recipe spread to the bars of Havana, where it was made popular in the mythical Floridita bar.

That is the legend. The fact is that it is disputed because, although there is some specific data about the creation (date, place, a name), it is still difficult to confirm any of it. Also, it seems unlikely that such a simple recipe can be traced to a single source, especially since sailors had been combining rum with lime juice for a couple of hundred years by the given date.

It doesn’t really matter, of course. The drink is a damn good one, and the story can be told with as many embellishments as you feel necessary in order to entertain your audience and seem learned.

Recipe:

2 oz. White Cuban Rum
1 oz. Lime Juice
1 tsp Sugar

Mix everything well in a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice until it is very, very cold and serve in a cocktail glass garnished with a lime wheel.

Notes:

How can you argue with this? The Daiquiri’s fame for being extremely refreshing is well earned, and that makes it an essential summer drink.

It’s important to remember that not all limes are created equal, so you may want to adjust the quantity of lime juice to your taste.

Rating:

- A necessary addition to your arsenal.

The summer is starting to take a hold around here, and that means I’ll be wheeling out some classic summer drinks. First up, hailing from the caribbean island of Cuba, is the Mojito.

The Mojito is probably the best-known cuban drink at the moment, since it has been fashionable for a couple of years now. The unashamed use of fresh mint is one of the reasons it stays in people’s minds, and the fact that it’s an authentic drink that actual cuban people drink makes it special. This last point is why I like to keep things as close to the original as possible. For that, we need the right ingredients.

First up is the rum. It must be cuban, and should be Havana Club Añejo 3-year-old. However, there are other cuban rums you can try.

The mint must be the hierbabuena type used in Cuba (and thankfully also the most prevalent here in Spain.) This mint has wider leaves and a lighter colour than the more common spearmint, and is more fragrant.

Finally, even though most sources omit it, I have it on good faith from people who have been to Cuba that cuban bartenders add Angostura Bitters to the Mojito. The recipe I’ve sourced comes from a cuban bartender on a spanish-language mailing list, so I’m reasonably confident it’s correct.

Recipe:

1 1/2 oz. White Rum (Havana Club 3-year-old is authentic)
1/2 oz. Lime juice
3 oz. Seltzer
2 fresh mint sprigs (about 8-10 leaves)
3 drops Angostura Bitters
1 tsp Sugar

Put the sugar in a glass and add the lime juice (about half a lime’s worth). Place one of the mint sprigs in the glass and muddle the mint well with the sugar. Add a little seltzer and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the rum, the lime hull and a few ice cubes, top up with seltzer and garnish with the remaining mint sprig. Finally, add the bitters carefully to the drink, without stirring.

Notes:

One of the quintessential cuban drinks, and a cocktail standard. Very fashionable lately, it doesn’t hurt that it’s one of the best summer drinks out there, in my opinion.

Rating:

- Four stars for a classic.