I can relate. Over the winter, I was working my way through A Farewell To Arms. Poor Frederic, nursing his wounds in the hospital in Milan or fleeing the authorities, he kept finding his solace in a bottle of vermouth. As I read, I felt compelled to join him.
Now, on the cusp of the slow crawl of spring, I thought it time to revisit his signature drink: the Hemingway Daiquiri. Supposedly this drink, or a variation of it, was Mr. Hemingway's go-to cocktail several times each day at El Floridita Bar in Havana, calling it Papa Doble- 'Papa's Double." The specific ratios of 'Hemingway's Daiquiri' seem to be a bit obscured by the vagaries of time (and the fuzzy memory of mixological history- an unsurprisingly common occurrence) so the recipes range from sweet and light to boozy and sour. At it's core though, the drink is an elaboration on the traditional daiquiri with a splash of grapefruit juice and a touch of maraschino liqueur.
I started off with a contemporary spin on the Papa Double, as concocted by Dale Degroff:
Hemingway Daquiri:
1.5 oz light rum (Mt. Gay Eclipse)
.25 oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
.5 oz fresh grapefruit juice
.75 oz simple syrup
.75 oz fresh lime juice
Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass
Bam. This drink is a killer. After a winter spent sipping strong, aggressive, booze-heavy drinks, this tastes like a sweet, dainty flower. Unlike most sours where the citrus seems to be the main contender, this guy melts together with a light sweetness that is refrshingly quaffable. The slight bitter note of the grapefruit prevents it from straying too far into sugar-overload. Maybe still a touch sweet for my taste, but this could be a delightfully dangerous concoction come July.
Tasty as it may be, ol' Ernest probably wouldn't be caught dead sipping one of these guys. He had a thing with sugar, didn't really care for it. Not surprising, considering his writing, or his, shall we say, delicate style with journalists.
He's also said to have preferred his drinks frozen, either over crushed ice or blended up. I pulled out my roommates trusty Cyclo-trol Eight to take a stab at something a bit more suited to the tastes of the man himself.
Frozen Hemingway Daquiri
3 oz light rum (Mt. Gay Eclipse)
1 oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
1.5 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1.5 oz fresh lime juice
Yessir. Double the rum, nix the sugar. Toss it in a blender with ice and let 'er rip
The result? An icy blended libation, perfect for the most unbearable of summer's days: stiff, sour, boozy, yet strangely refreshing. I couldn't think of a better characterization of the man's writing. For every day drinking, I think I'd hang with the first recipe (and admittedly, Cyclo-trol Eight wasn't quite up to the task). But for the dog days of summer, a rum-heavy Hemingway original just might do (allegedly, he took nearly four ounces of rum per cocktail). Lost Generation indeed! If only ol' Ernest had the foresight to attempt some painting and exercising too...
