TOP TIPS:
The choice of rum will greatly affect your Daiquiri. Afterall, there are only three ingredients so each will impact the mix greatly! When made well, a Daiquiri is meant to be delicate and subtle so the big, booming rums are not usually the ideal choice.
White rums, lighter rums such as Doorly’s, Havana Club or the Bacardi range tend to be good place to start.
Changing the recipe and formula.
Let’s face it, you’re likely to be making more than one Daiquiri and for many, rather than remembering a quantity and multiplying it to make several drinks, they look at the Daiquiri recipe as a ratio.
The recipe above is 6 parts rum, 2 parts lime, 1 part sugar. We chose this for two reasons. The first being entirely subjective preference. The second is the ease of the measurement. 8 or 9 parts rum, vs 3 of lime etc. makes for some tedious measuring out and some odd use of jiggers. The 60ml, 20ml, 10ml is straight forward for home cocktail makers and in our opinion, tastes the best too.
There are times in which you may want to change the formula however. For example, the type of rum may suit a different mix, while you may have a preference for a certain type of sugar.
8 parts rum, 2 parts lime, 1 part sugar is a tried and tested ratio. It works well across numerous types of rum, and we’d recommend it if you have a particularly subtle flavour profile that benefits from being in higher quantity, or if you want to really allow the rum to dominate the mix. Equally, it's a good ratio to consider if you are using Demerara in your sugar syrup.
If you pick a less boozy ratio of 4 parts rum, 2 parts lime and 1 part sugar – make sure you go for a fuller flavoured rum to counter the caustic nature of the lime juice.
AN ABRIDGED, INEBRIATED HISTORY:
The Daiquiri was invented in the late 1800’s by an American mining engineer named Jennings Cox, who named it after the eponymous mining town of Daiquiri in Cuba.
The drink remained local to Cuba until 1909, when Rear Admiral Lucius W. Johnson, a U.S. Navy medical officer who particularly enjoyed drinking it, introduced the Daiquiri to the Army and Navy Club in Washington, D.C. The classic recipe has since enjoyed cult status and is synonymous with the likes of Hemingway and vintage Cuba.
Having enjoyed a few decades on the radar of discerning drinkers, the Daiquiri shot up the American drinking agenda in the 1940’s, establishing itself as a staple recipe across the country. Since, riffs and twists on it have also meant there is an entire generation of drinkers who associate the Daiquiri with fluo-hued slushies, but that's a story for another day and another drink…
