The classic daiquiri is one of the best cocktails to have in your arsenal. The Cuban cocktail is devilishly easy to make while delivering some of the best flavors in the game. It’s bright, boozy, and (famously) goes down way too easily.
The idea of adding sugar cane juice and lime to rum goes back centuries in Cuba, as both an analgesic and something to take the edge off at beachside resorts. The daiquiri cocktail as we know it today goes back to around the Spanish-American War and rough riders returning to the U.S. with a taste for this three-ingredient elixir. The rest is cocktail history (and lore).
For this drink, you really just need a good shaking arm, a nice white rum, a little sugar cane syrup, and some fresh lime. That’s it. If you can shake a cocktail, you can make this drink very quickly. Plus, this might be the most refreshing cocktail there is. It’s light yet full of flavor and the ultimate thirst quencher.
Let’s get shaking!
Classic Daiquiri
Ingredients:
- 2-oz. white rum
- 1-oz. fresh lime juice
- 0.5-oz. sugar cane syrup
- Lime peel
- Ice
Usually, I’d use Havana Club 3 for this drink. But since that’s not really available in the U.S., I’m going with another aged white rum. Diplomatico Planas is aged for six years in oak in Venezuela. The juice is then filtered to take it back to a white rum in appearance while maintaining all those aged rum flavors. It’s a damn fine sipper and mixer (grab a bottle here).
As for the sugar cane syrup, I go with Monin Pure Cane Syrup because that’s what I have on my shelf. It’s clean and gets the job done. If you want to make your own simple syrup with bespoke sugar, no one is stopping you (demerara sugar is a good way to go). You really don’t need to though.
Lastly, there’s the lime. Generally speaking, one lime should yield the exact right amount of juice for one cocktail. So, I’m just squeezing one lime through a sieve directly into the cocktail shaker. However you chose to squeeze your lime juice, make sure to run it through a sieve to remove all the pulp — that’s essential.
What You’ll Need:
- Coupe or Nick and Nora glass (pre-chilled)
- Cocktail shaker
- Strainer
- Jigger
- Fruit juicer
- Sieve
- Fruit peeler/pairing knife
Method:
- Add the rum, lime juice, and syrup to the cocktail shaker.
- Top up with ice and shake vigorously until the outside of the shaker is ice cold to touch (15 to 20 seconds).
- Strain the cocktail into the waiting, pre-chilled glass.
- Spritz the lime oils from the peel over the glass, rub the peel’s oils around the stem, bowl, and rim of the glass, and drop the peel into the cocktail.
- Serve.
Bottom Line:
It’s almost annoying how refreshing and delicious this cocktail is. It’s doesn’t even have to be blazingly hot or humid out to enjoy it. The rum really shines through with hints of barrel spice and an almost creaminess with a rummy essence. The sugar is subtle and adds a nice velvety texture. The lime, naturally, is the dominant note — with brightness and tartness that’s eye-popping.
In the end, this went down far too quickly. I had to make another one. That one probably went down too quickly as well. I can’t related to Hemingway’s famous 17 in one sitting, but these are obviously a breeze to drink.
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