The Ultimate Daiquiri

Before starting, put your chosen glass in the freezer. Chill a boston shaker by filling it 3/4 full with ice, then empty before pouring in the ingredients.

Squeeze 3/4 OZ (22.5 ml) of lime with the manual pressure juicer directly into the jigger (to check the exact quantity of juice) and pour into the Boston shaker.

Pour 2 bar spoons of white cane sugar into the Boston shaker.

With the help of the bar spoon, dissolve the sugar by rotating the spoon around the walls of the shaker.

Measure 2 OZ (60 ml) of light rum with the jigger and pour into the Boston shaker.

Fill the Boston shaker with ice.

Close the shaker and shake very vigorously.

Remove the glass from the freezer.

With the help of a strainer, pour the cocktail into the glass. Don't forget to use the strainer - only a few pieces will end up in the glass and help the cocktail stay fresher for longer.

Garnish the cocktail with a wedge of lime and it's ready to serve.

History

The Daiquiri has not just one, but three stories as to its origin.

It's Santiago de Cuba, 1898, in the small village of Daiquiri, now known as Playa Daiquiri, a young American marine is shipwrecked and escapes his sinking ship, Maine, in the port of Havana. It's the event that will trigger the war between Spain and the United States, but what does he know: he is exhausted, thirsty and rushes into the first bar he finds. Since that bar has only rum to offer, excellent, but not exactly the most suitable drink for quenching your thirst, the sailor stretches the drink with lime juice and adds some sugar: here is the first Daiquiri.

There is a second, equally convincing, story: it's still1898, always Daiquiri beach. This time, American troops landed to start the war against the Spanish colonial army and liberate Cuba. At the head of the Americans is General Shafter, who will prove to be a rather clumsy leader. Perhaps because he is too busy tasting the drink popular among the allied Cuban guerrillas, Cancháchara: 2/3 rum, 1/3 lemon and a little sugar, 'liquid courage' for battles, and excellent pain reliever for wounds. “This drink is missing only one thing: ice," he exclaims - the consecration of the Daiquiri, of course, the most significant contribution of the lazy general to the entire military campaign.

Another version: the birth of the cocktail is postponed by a few years, at the beginning of the twentieth century, when a mining engineer of Italian origin, Giacomo Pagliuchi, visits the mine of American colleague Jennings S. Cox. At the end of the day it's time for a drink, and the guest in the house has only rum, sugar and lime. Shaken with ice, what Jennings calls a rum comes out sour, but Giacomo disagrees: "This name is not worthy of such a fine and delicious cocktail as ours. We will call it Daiquiri.”

Variations

The best-known variant of this cocktail is the frozen version, Daiquiri mulata. Other alternatives are with added fruit, the best known, with fresh strawberry or peach puree, usually always prepared in the frozen version.

Curiosity

Being a cocktail of a few simple ingredients, it is best to use a clear rum of high quality to achieve a really good result.

Nobel Prize winner for literature Ernest Hemingway couldn't do without his favourite cocktails; the Daiquiri and the mojito. “My mojito at La Bodeguita, my daiquiri at El Floridita”: few words that engrave history with letters of fire and that consecrate El Floridita once and for all cradle of the Daiquiri.