July 19, 2022
Summer is in full swing and who doesn’t want to drink a refreshing cocktail full of fruit flavour at this time of the year?
The daiquiri is a classic, a cocktail made from white rum, fresh lime juice and sugar.
The drink originated in Cuba where such ingredients are plentiful, and it’s been a popular libation in the United States and beyond for over a century.
It’s thought that the American mining engineer Jennings Cox first mixed the daiquiri cocktail in 1900 at a bar in Santiago, Cuba. While some may credit Cox with creating the daiquiri, British sailors were consuming the grog’s combination of rum, water, lime juice and sugar as a daily ration in the latter 1700s.
The recipe for the daiquiri arrived from Cuba to United States by Admiral Lucius Johnson, a US naval medical officer who consequently introduced the tropical beverage at the Army and Navy Club in Washington DC in 1909.
President Roosevelt may be the individual credited for the daiquiri’s surge in popularity in the 1940s. Wartime rationing had made liquor and other products rare commodities. In an effort to open trade relations and travel destinations with the Caribbean region, Roosevelt initiated the ‘Good Neighbour Policy’ and rum became readily available. Latin American culture became trendy, and the daiquiri was popularized by such public figures as president John F. Kennedy and author Ernest Hemmingway.
The daiquiri has been recreated into several variations on the original theme. The rum, lime juice and sugar trinity of ingredients for the classic daiquiri is traditionally shaken and then strained into a chilled cocktail glass. Over the decades, the daiquiri has evolved to include fruit (we love to make ours with fresh strawberries in the summer).
Want to try one of these classics at your event? Contact Us to chat about bar hire.