Strawberry Daiquiri cocktail recipe

If the word Daiquiri conjures up connotations of slushy frozen fruit mountains, allow this classy coupe to enter the scene. Before this drink could befriend the blender, the sophisticated Strawberry Daiquiri cocktail had to find its silky smooth soul in Cuba.

It was a sweet moment of serendipity and the absence of gin that saw this rum-based cocktail come to life. As the story goes, in the late 1800s Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer living in the Cuban beach town of Daiquiri, was mixing up a drink for friends. Without his go-to spirit on hand, Jennings instead shook up what Cuba had so abundantly; rum, lime and sugar. So impressed with the final result, Jennings even documented the recipe in his diary, cementing the Daiquiri's foundation.

Quickly gathering a legion of fans, the zesty cocktail even inspired the literary great Ernest Hemingway, who went on to craft his diabetic-friendly version with no sugar and double the rum. The variations didn’t stop there. The invention and popularity of the blender added fruit and more ice to the mix, creating a hallmark holiday attraction of its own.

If you prefer your Daiquiris a little more velvety, and minus the straw, this version combines a shaken and strained style with a sweet strawberry kick to make one very fruitful, refined cocktail.

A key to this Daiquiri’s success is serving the cocktail ‘up’, meaning chilled, but without ice. The best way is to pop the glass in the fridge for at least an hour before shaking, or in the freezer for 30 minutes, if you’re short on time. Finish it off with the smoothest and clearest pour by double-straining the Daiquiri to collect any extra fruit pulp. 

As Jennings would encourage, for the best results, aim to use a Cuban white rum such as Bacardi or Santisima Trinidad. Although never a stranger to flavour variations, try adding a variety of fruit and herbs to the muddle, such as blackberries, peaches, mint or basil.

If you’re eager to break out the blender, try this frozen Mango Daiquiri, the Frozen Coconut Daiquiri or go super-fruity in the Frozen Banana Daiquiri.