The Real Daiquiri

Many mixed drinks can be hacked once you get a feel for the ingredients. A friend of mine took a bartending course and knows way more about the "real" way of doing it, but I'm always surprising her with mixed drinks I have worked on lovingly for years. Most are of the kind that no bartender in his right mind would ever make because they take too long to do or require specialized ingredients.

Because I live only a moderate walk from saltwater, rum is always in style. (Actually rum is my favorite spirit even when I lived a long way from the sea.)

Summer's coming and nothing says summer to me like a real daiquiri. No I'm not talking about the vile version of today made from daiquiri mix, but the classic drink Ernest Hemingway got bombed on hanging out down in Cuba. It requires a bit of work on your part but your patience will be rewarded (to steal a line). I like mine in a highball glass so here's my recipe which you could adapt for two simply by pouring into two lowball glasses.

-juice of 3 limes
-1 oz simple syrup (which I like to make with turbinado sugar)
-2 oz golden rum
-1 oz maraschino liqueur
-ice cubes
-spring water

Combine the lime juice, simple syrup and golden rum in the glass over ice. Dilute with spring water to the desired strength and stir thoroughly. My general goal is to be able to taste the alcohol, but not have it be overwhelming but you have to get a feel for your preferences.

If you can't get maraschino---it tastes sort of like a drier amaretto, made from a particular kind of Croatian cherry that tastes hardly like the modern maraschino cherry---skip it and just up the rum to 3 oz. Or try throwing in some other liqueur with a flavor that suitably complements lime and the molasses flavor of rum, e.g., kirchwasser, curacao, Cointreau, whatever. Now's your opportunity to experiment.

An interesting alternative is to throw a few berries in the bottom of the glass, which you smash. Raspberries work great and add some interesting color. Buy seedless if you can, though, and don't bother with the pulp as it will not taste good.

Addendum:

Another favorite is what I call the "original Cape Codder". If you order a Cape Codder these days you'll get what a Russian friend of mine might call a Lake Ladoga, aka vodka and cranberry juice. She's from St. Petersburg, which is near Lake Ladoga and the surrounding area is quite swampy. Cranberries grow in bogs and are popular there. However, vodka's history in the US is quite minimal.

No, good old fashioned molasses based rum is the historic tipple of an American. A nice Bermuda variety such as Gosling's is worth the investment (approximately $30).

Original Cape Codder

In a tall glass over ice, add:

3 oz Bermuda rum
fill with cranberry juice (not cocktail)

Stir and finish with a squeeze of lime or lemon (your choice). Again, adjust to your taste. I like mine where I can taste the alcohol but it's not overwhelming. As there are numerous blends of cranberry juice around, you can vary the juice to get different flavors. You may want to dilute with seltzer or spring water.