How to Make a Daiquiri (Video)

how to make a daiquiri cocktail — Dan Baker/The Manual

Ah, the daiquiri. Is there any cocktail that so encapsulates paradise? You’ve got your rum, your fresh citrus, and just a little bit of sugar to round it all out. Mixed together and chilled, it immediately brings a sense of calm to you and whomever else is drinking it (unless you’re Ernest Hemingway, doing his famous Papa Dobles with double the amount of rum — then you’re likely to feel emboldened enough to fight a shark or a tiger or some other dangerous creature).

The daiquiri, we know, comes from Cuba. While it’s hard to pinpoint an exact moment or person, historians have some pretty good guesses. First, Daiquirí is the name of a beach and an iron mine near Santiago de Cuba, located in the southeast portion of the island. At this mine, there was an American, Jennings Cox, who devised a drink very similar to the British grog, which sailors used to make the rum they’d brought on long voyages palatable (spirits were common because water would become tainted).

The drink grew in popularity in the 1940s when it was introduced to the Army & Navy Club in Washington, D.C. by Rear Admiral Lucius W. Johnson, who’d consumed the potent potable while in Cuba. The drink continued to trend as celebrities, including both Hemingway and President John F. Kennedy, became avid fans of the cocktail.

The word daiquiri has since become the name for an entire family of drinks, ranging from the classic, which we cover below, to pretty much any cocktail that has rum, some citrus, some sweetener, and, usually, other fruits or flavorings (yes, that includes those monstrosities that Applebee’s sells). We like to keep things classic, so we enlisted the help of Anna Maceda, beverage director of Grand Army Tavern in Portland, Oregon, to show us the proper way to make a daiquiri. For this recipe, we use Bayou Silver Rum, winner of the Best Unaged Rum category in The Manual Spirit Awards 2018.

For those that find themselves in Portland, Grand Army Tavern (located in the Woodlawn neighborhood) is hog heaven for pork and cocktail lovers, with selections ranging from house-made charcuterie to porchetta and spiced butt roast sliders (bonus points if you can say the name without giggling). Those dishes, as well as the wide array of vegetarian options, go perfectly with the drink program, which ranges from light and Sunday morning-ready to spirit-forward.