Everything about Daiquiri, the ultimate summer cocktail
With the blazing summer sun in the sky and Daiquiri Day just behind us (July 19 – mark it in your calendar for next year), we’ve been craving one thing for days: an ice-cold Daiquiri. It’s the ultimate summer cocktail: sweet, sour, refreshing and full-bodied all at once. And you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry. Read on, because of course we’ll also tell you how to make such a delicious cocktail.
The discovery of the Daiquiri
Who should we thank for inventing this ingenious rum cocktail? American engineer Jennings Stockton Cox. In 1889, Cox worked at the mines in the Sierra Maestra Mountains, on the east coast of Cuba. He and his team received high salaries for their work; they had left their stable lives in the USA to work in Cuba, where they also faced a considerable risk of contracting yellow fever. In addition to money and tobacco, the engineers received local rum as payment, which they watched the Cubans eagerly mix with water, soda and coffee.
Cox decided to experiment himself. During a meeting with an engineer named Francesco Domenico Pagliuchi, he mixed the white rum with the ingredients he had on hand: lime and sugar. They named the drink after the small mountain village nearby: Daiquiri. An American admiral eventually brought the recipe to America in 1909. After visiting Cox at the Cuban mines, he had the refreshing, sweet Daiquiri placed directly on the menu at the Army & Navy Club in Washington D.C.
1001 Daiquiris
The original Daiquiri recipe was made with white rum, sugar and lime. Yet there are already thousands of variations on the cocktail. Take the Banana Daiquiri, the Witches Daiquiri, the Pineapple Daiquiri, the Nuclear Daiquiri and, of course, the deliciously tropical Frozen Daiquiri.
For the classic recipe, shake 50 ml rum with 15 ml lime juice and 10 ml simple syrup, then garnish the drink with lime zest. But the perfect Daiquiri is slightly different for everyone. It depends on whether you prefer it a little more refreshing, sweeter or fuller-bodied. That’s why you should order a classic Daiquiri the way you might order a gin and tonic or Dry Martini: tell the bartender how you like to drink your Daiquiri and mention a specific rum too. One of our favorite recipes uses a light brown rum instead of the original white rum, such as Angostura 1919, along with some bitters.
Our perfect Daiquiri
For our favorite, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- 60 ml Angostura 1919
- 20 ml lime juice
- 15 ml simple syrup (1:1)*
- 3 dashes Angostura Bitters
*For this, make a syrup using 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar. You only need to dissolve the sugar in the water in a saucepan over low heat.
Did you know: these days, a classic Daiquiri “belongs” in a small cocktail glass or martini glass. But Cox drank the first Daiquiri on the rocks. So there’s no reason to be too purist about how it’s “supposed” to be done.
Testing 1, 2, 3… Daiquiri!
Because the Daiquiri consists of just three ingredients, it’s easy to make. Yet finding the perfect balance between the sweetness of the rum and simple syrup and the acidity of the lime is an art. That’s why the Daiquiri is considered the ultimate test for bartenders. Anyone who can get this cocktail perfectly balanced knows what they’re doing.
Also read:
- How to always choose the most delicious prosecco
- Why baguette tastes so much better on vacation
- Recipe for a spicy pumpkin soup
Image: Mister Cocktail Albert van Beeck Calkoen
