“If you wish to take a look at the bartender, you order the Daiquiri,” says Julio Cabrera, of Miami’s Cafe La Trova. “Not all people will make Daiquiri: It seems to be easy, however it’s not.”
However mastering the composition of the three-ingredient basic—rum, lime, sugar—can unlock the format’s singular versatility. For Cabrera, one of the vital neglected components within the Daiquiri is the sweetener.
“I desire white sugar,” he says—not easy syrup, which, if made with scorching water, can have a slight caramelized taste. “That impacts the standard of the Daiquiri,” he explains.
For his Daiquiri Clasico, the home Daiquiri served at La Trova, Cabrera shakes a half-tablespoon of white granulated sugar with two ounces of white rum (his most well-liked model is Bacardí Superior, which has an ABV that’s “not too sturdy, not too excessive, not too overproof”) and three-quarters of an oz. of contemporary lime juice—the identical manner it’s been made in Cuba since 1898. “In Cuba, virtually nobody makes use of easy syrup,” he says, a convention he’s maintained at Cuba-inspired La Trova, the place all of the drinks are made with white sugar for its “contemporary, clear” taste.
By comparability, a drink made with the identical proportions, however with a half-ounce of straightforward syrup as a substitute of granulated sugar, would have a unique impact. Other than the refined caramelization that happens if the syrup has been heated, the additional water added through the syrup leads to a extra diluted drink.
Fairly than altering the sweetener, Cabrera prefers so as to add small quantities of liqueur to switch his Daiquiris. For his refreshingly slushy Daiquiri #4 (or Daiquiri Floridita), the white rum is lowered to at least one and a half ounces, whereas a quarter-ounce of maraschino liqueur dietary supplements the white sugar and the requisite lime juice, all blended with crushed ice and served in a big coupe glass.
This frozen model of the Hemingway Daiquiri resembles the one created in Havana within the Twenties, and continues to be served at Havana’s iconic bar La Floridita, the place author Ernest Hemingway popularized the drink. “It’s well-known all all over the world due to Hemingway,” says Cabrera. “That Daiquiri is extra well-known than the basic in Cuba.” Whereas the unique specified two to 3 dashes of maraschino, Cabrera prefers a full quarter-ounce, which stands up properly within the blended model. (For these maintaining observe: The #1 is the Clasico; #2 is sweetened by orange juice and Cointreau; #3 with maraschino and grapefruit juice; and #4, aka the Hemingway, with maraschino alone.)
One other refined variation provides a splash of absinthe (or pastis) to the basic shaken Daiquiri, yielding the Greta Garbo. The splash of anise performs properly with each the lime juice and the rum. “It’s a contact of one thing else, a contact of taste that makes it extra complicated, extra pleasant, extra ‘aperitif.’”
This model is woefully underrated, Cabrera says, and he’s added it to La Trova’s menu for instance of a rescued “forgotten” Cuban basic. “I don’t know why individuals don’t make it extra typically,” he says. “For me, it’s even higher than the Clasico.”
