Chapter Two: Song of the Citrus, aka The Daiquiri

Supporting Cast:
Aviation

During the Renaissance, the Swiss were the most feared soldiers in Europe—so scary, in fact, that the popes hired them as bodyguards (and you know those guys could afford the very best). Nowadays, though, the Swiss Guard, with its cute, colorful getup, is not so terrifying. Time has done the same thing to the once-mighty Daiquiri. Formerly a drink of warriors and presidents (it was JFK’s fave), it’s been reduced to a spineless puddle of Day-Glo fruit slush.

That’s a shame. There are few drinks more elegant than a Daiquiri made as it used to be during the two-thirds of a century that passed between the American occupation of Cuba in 1898 (which introduced the Yanqui to white rum) and Lee Harvey Oswald’s fatal moment in the spotlight. Made thus, it’s an essay in balance and simplicity. There are some ogreish types who might point out that, since balance and simplicity are conspicuous by their absence in modern American life, you might as well forget about it and have a beer. There’s only one solution to such negativity: do it yourself and prove the ogres wrong. Here’s how.

2 ounces white Cuban-style rum
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar (if this is absolutely, positively too dry for you, add more—but cautiously)

Stir to dissolve sugar, add ice, shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Substitutions: For the rum, any other rum; for the lime juice, nothing; for the sugar, an equal amount of rich simple syrup or, if you want to go Day-Glo, any fruit liqueur.

Aviation

This simple mix of gin, lemon juice, and maraschino liqueur (a funky, white distillate of cherries and their pits that hails from the shores of the Adriatic Sea and has very little to do with the bioengineered, waxy red cherries) has earned a place in the hearts of true cocktail fanatics for its combination of easy assembly and complex, even mysterious, flavor. Though the azure tint of the classic version comes from a tiny addition of creme de violette, it’s easy to overdo, so we sometimes just omit it altogether.

2 ounces gin
2 teaspoons maraschino liqueur
3/4 ounce lemon juice

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Aviation

Ryan Demonstrates How To Make an Aviation.

Aviation
In mixing glass add;
2oz Plymouth Gin
1/2 oz Maraschino liqueur
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 TSP Crème De violette
Add ice and shake
Strain into martini glass
Garnish with cherry

Daiquiri

Ryan Demonstrates How To Make a Daiquiri.

Daiquiri
In mixing glass add;
2 oz Angostura Rum
1/2 oz Lime Juice
2 spoonfuls of granulated sugar
Add ice and shake well
Strain into martini glass
Garnish with lime wheel

Reproduced from “Killer Cocktails” by David Wondrich.