Hemingway Daiquiri (Papa Dobles)
TIME/SERVINGS
Makes: 1 drink
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From: Field Guide to Cocktails , by Rob Chirico
The original daiquiri was a mixture of rum, lime, and sugar, served over ice. Yet another product of late-19th-century imperialism, the daiquiri was first recorded in a Cuban mining town of the same name. Although the locals had probably been knocking back rum and lime for years, in 1886 an American engineer, James Cox, and a Cuban engineer named Pagliuchi refined the rum and lime drink by adding cane sugar. When Admiral Lucius Johnson introduced the recipe to the Army Navy Club in DC, in 1909, the daiquiri was becoming one of the world’s most popular drinks. Many years later, John F. Kennedy may have tried his first daiquiri there. We will never know, but quite ironically, JFK, who also had a penchant for Cuban cigars, designated the daiquiri as his drink of choice.
Constantino Ribalagua, the famed bartender at Havana’s La Floridita—nicknamed La Catedral del Daiquiri—blended the drink with shaved ice, thereby creating the frozen daiquiri. Chief among the frozen daiquiri’s adherents was Ernest Hemingway. Ribalagua specifically created this sugarless Papa Dobles for Papa Hemingway, who apparently could wade through a dozen of these at one sitting. Standing is not an option after a dozen frozen daiquiris.
- Juice of 2 limes
- Juice of 1 grapefruit
- 2 ounces light rum
- 1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
- Mix all ingredients over cracked or shaved ice; then pour into a chilled highball glass.
COMMENTS | ADD YOUR OWN
This is one of my favorite cocktails. The version presented here is, however, a huge variation from the traditional recipe (a whole grapefruit yields a *lot* of juice, when the standard recipe uses just a 1/2 oz). Also, as the only sweetness comes from the 1/4 oz. maraschino in probably at least 6 oz. of liquid, I think this would make for a *very* tart drink.
The traditional recipe (from Dale DeGroff):
1 1/2 oz. light rum
3/4 oz. lime juice
3/4 oz. simple syrup (I usually pull back to 1/2 oz)
1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
1/4 oz. maraschino liqueur
shake hard and strain.
I think I'll try the DeGroff version before I ever try Chirico's version, unless I had some ultra-engineered sweet grapefruit.
The following recipe is based upon the Daiquirí recipe from El Floridita that Hemingway drinks with A. E. Hotchner in his book Papa Hemingway.
1 serving
2 jiggers Bacardi or Havana Club rum
(1 jigger = 1 1/2 ounces)
Juice of 2 limes
Juice of 1/2 grapefruit
6 drops of maraschino (cherry brandy)
Fill a blender one-quarter full of ice, preferably shaved or cracked. Add the rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice and maraschino.
Blend on high until the mixture turns cloudy and light-colored. ( See Islands in the Stream, page 281 for a more Hemingway-esque description.)
Serve immediately in large, conical goblets.
Where can you get true Croatian maraschino?