Daiquiri

The Daiquiri is deceptively simple but also extremely easy to mess up. Per David Embury, there are two things you should pay attention to when making a Daiquiri: Measure carefully and avoid cheap rum.

Most recipes call for white rum, but you can just as easily try other types and introduce slight variations. If you use an aged rum, for instance, you could swap the simple syrup for Demerara syrup to accentuate the molasses.

In terms of limes, make sure you choose soft, ripe ones. Try adding the remaining lime shell into the cocktail shaker before you mix the drink, it will impart a slight bitterness you might enjoy.

Some people are fond of adding a couple of drops of Angostura bitters – definitely worth a try.

The combination of spirit, citrus and sugar has been in our history for at least 500 years, if not more. It is no surprise that many cocktail recipes contain these three elements. 

The earliest writing we have of this recipe was in 1898 by Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer who was working in Cuba. Daiquirí is the name of a mine and a beach in Santiago de Cuba.

The word Daiquirí is of taíno origin, a language used in the Antilles before Spanish colonization, but its meaning is unknown.