What is Daiquiri?

We have more occasions these days to take rum at bars and restaurants due to recent Mojito boom.

There are many rum based cocktails such as Cuba Libre made of rum and coke or XYZ, a short cocktail made of rum, Cointreau and lemon juice. One of the most famous cocktails is Daiquiri.

The standard Daiquiri is a refreshing short cocktail made of white rum, fresh lime juice and syrup.

In 1902 when Cuba had just became independent from Spain and many mining engineers were sent from the US to the mines close to Santiago. For the hard work in high temperature they used to take alcoholic beverage made of Cuban rum, lime juice and sugar during the break. One of the engineers Jennings Cox named the beverage after the mine Daiquiri. Later on, the beverage was imported to bars in Santiago that evolved into sophisticated cocktail that is loved by people all over the world.

In Japan, fresh lemon was used instead of lime since lime provision had been low due to demand and importation balance being deteriorated for the strong yen and oil crisis of 70s-80s. There are many bars in Japan still keeping on using lemon juice. Daiquiri made of lemon is refreshing without bitterness while with lime it tastes dry and a little bitter. Since ingredients are simple the balance of sourness and sweetness is sensitive that the taste highly depends on the skill of bartender.

The key of Daiquiri is rum. Rum is made in Caribbean islands in many different methods. Generally, it is made from fermented and distilled sugarcane juice. The image of rum is liveliness of Caribbean sea but once in the history it had been used for slave trade. It is an alcoholic beverage with many histories and loved from the people all over the world taken in different ways such as straight, on-the-rocks or as base liquor of Daiquiri.

Indeed, Daiquiri appears frequently in novels and movies. In the great movie “God Father” a scene in which banana Daiquiri being ordered is impressive. In the movie “The Mirror Crack’d” based on a British mystery novel written by Agatha Christie, a poisoned Daiquiri is referred to.

The most well-known episode is the phrase, “he ordered a double frozen Daiquiri” that appears in the novel “Islands in the Stream” written by the great writer Ernest Hemingway. He used to take Daiquiri at the bar El Floridita in Havana while writing. He used to take it with a double white rum added grapefruit juice and crushed ice. His favorite Daiquiri is named Papa Daiquiri and it is still popular among tourists to visit El Floridita to take it. His word “my Daiquiri in El Floridita” shows his true love to Daiquiri.

In the Cigar Bar Super nova we offer Papa Daiquiri, Frozen Daiquiri, Floridita Daiquiri (a dry Daiquiri using lemon juice instead of lime and with Maraschino liqueur) and other kinds of Daiquiri using seasonal fruits.

Besides, cocktails such as Gimlet using gin instead of rum for Daiquiri or Jackrose using Calvados (apple brandy) instead adding Grenadine syrup are very popular. Sugar used for Frozen Daiquiri is sugar made carefully from sugarcane from Tanegashima. You can enjoy a special Frozen Daiquiri made with rich sugar served exclusively at the Cigar Bar Super nova. You can “feel” Cuba taking it.