Unlike the frozen, fruity concoctions that come garnished with a strawberry or a cocktail umbrella, the original Daiquiri recipe calls for just three ingredients – white rum, lime juice and sugar syrup – to make an elegant, refined and classic sweet-sour cocktail.
This OG version of the Daiquiri was created by Jennings Cox, an American engineer based in Cuba, who received a ration of local Cuban rum on top of his salary. As the story goes, the engineer ran out of gin while entertaining one night and had to serve his guests rum mixed with lime juice and sugar. Fortunately for us, the delicious result was the invention of the Daiquiri. It's a perfectly refreshing combination of sour and sweet, with the flavoursome white rum packing an enjoyable punch that's mellowed by the sugar and lime.
The Daiquiri’s most famous fan has to be American novelist Ernest Hemingway, who purportedly discovered it at his favourite Cuban haunt – El Floridita in Havana. Because of his fondness for the cocktail, the bar invented a version in his name, the Hemingway Daiquiri, which sees the addition of 15mL each of grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur. While we’re on the topic of famous faces, it’s said that JFK was also partial to a Frozen Daiquiri.
