THE CLASSIC RECIPE

The Daiquiri is just one of many cocktails in the category referred to as sours—basically, a combination of spirit, citrus, and sweetener wherein the sweet and sour elements come together to temper the spirit’s strength and flavor. These refreshing cocktails are great for people who steer clear of straight spirits or spirituous cocktails like Old-Fashioneds or Martinis. Though there are thousands of sours, we chose the Daiquiri as the focus for this chapter because of its universal appeal. If you think you don’t like Daiquiris, that’s just because you haven’t tried a good one yet! We also chose the Daiquiri because of the wide variety of rums available, so choosing your favorite for making Daiquiris can entail an enjoyable voyage of discovery.

The Daiquiri has enjoyed sensational popularity—with the unfortunate side effect that this simple, sour-style cocktail often manifests as a blender catastrophe. Though a frozen Daiquiri blended with a produce stand of fresh fruits can be plenty tasty, the classic Daiquiri is a modest combination of rum, lime juice, and sugar, shaken and served up, and versions of the classic recipe can be found in countless vintage cocktail books.

Daiquiri

2 ounces rum

¾ ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Garnish: 1 lime wedge

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with the lime wedge.

OUR ROOT RECIPE

One thing we love about the Daiquiri is that it’s a phenomenal way to explore the diverse world of rum. For our root recipe, we veer slightly from the classic by using a split base of light Spanish-style rum accented with a tiny amount of flavorful rhum agricole. We also bump up the lime juice a touch for a brighter hit of citrus. This recipe yields a drink that’s simultaneously deeply refreshing and pleasantly complex.

Our Ideal Daiquiri

1¾ ounces Caña Brava white rum

¼ ounce La Favorite Rhum Agricole Blanc Coeur de Canne

1 ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Garnish: 1 lime wedge

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with the lime wedge.

DAIQUIRI ORTHODOXY

The defining traits of the Daiquiri and its extended family of cocktails:

A Daiquiri is composed of a spirit, citrus, and a sweetener, typically rum, lime juice, and simple syrup.

A Daiquiri is flexible in regard to the proportions of citrus to sweetener, which depend on the preference of the drinker and the acidity and sweetness of the citrus juice.

A Daiquiri requires a level of improvisation due to the inconsistency of citrus juices.

THE DRINK OF A THOUSAND FACES

You can find something called a Daiquiri on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, dispensed from a large slushie machine and spiked with every imaginable flavoring—except, strangely, rum. You can also find Daiquiris at island resorts, blended or on the rocks, served in comically large glasses; if you’re lucky these may be made with fresh fruit. This chapter is not about those kinds of Daiquiris.

Another type of Daiquiri can be found at the world’s best cocktail bars: a foggy white, frothy tipple served in a dainty stemmed glass. At these establishments, industry folks know that the Daiquiri is the ultimate handshake, because making a great Daiquiri requires more attention to technique than most cocktails. While the proportions of the Daiquiri’s three ingredients are important, how those ingredients are combined to create the finished cocktail is even more critical, from the freshness of the lime juice and the choice of rum to the shaking method and the temperature of the cocktail glass. In this way, the Daiquiri is an ideal cocktail to work with for mastering both technique and improvisation.

The Daiquiri may have a reputation as an easygoing cocktail, but its success hinges on your ability to understand how its components—strong, sweet, and sour—collaborate to make a unified whole. Beyond mastery of the formula and proper technique, the Daiquiri also requires thinking on your feet. While your choice of rum and shaking technique certainly have a role in making a successful Daiquiri, paying attention to the inconsistency of citrus (which can vary in acidity and sweetness from fruit to fruit) and adjusting accordingly can help you not only make a great Daiquiri but also inform your approach to all sour-style cocktails.

UNDERSTANDING THE TEMPLATE

Understanding the Daiquiri template really boils down to understanding sour-style cocktails in general, so that’s where we’ll start. Here’s the basic sour formula:

Basic Sour

CLASSIC

2 ounces spirit

¾ ounce fresh lemon or lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled glass. No garnish.

This formula is a great starting place for any cocktail involving lemon or lime juice—and fundamental to understanding the Daiquiri and its many variations. (We’ll address other citrus juices later in the chapter, including the adjustments that are necessary to accommodate their varying levels of sweetness and acidity.) In the basic sour template above, the components are in harmony: the strength of the alcohol is matched by a balance between sweet and sour. For most people, this combination—2 ounces spirit, ¾ ounce lemon or lime juice, and ¾ ounce simple syrup—strikes the right note. Then, this can be tweaked to suit individual preferences, with more lemon juice making for a tarter cocktail, and more sugar producing a sweeter one. What we don’t recommend is increasing both, as that would overshadow the spirit’s flavor. We love good-quality spirits and think cocktails are at their best when the characteristics of the spirits come through.

At this point, we want to briefly address the distinction between sours and daisies. We cover the latter in more detail in chapter 4, on Sidecars (see this page); for now, we’ll just say that whereas sours typically rely on a solitary base spirit, daisies include liqueur, which also contributes to the drink’s sugar content. Two famous cocktails, the Margarita and the Cosmopolitan, both call for a fair amount of Cointreau—a high-proof orange liqueur—which places them firmly in the daisy category, even though they are both refreshing and somewhat sour. Also note that even though some of the recipes in this chapter contain small amounts of sweet liqueur, here it functions primarily as seasoning, rather than being part of the core, as in daisies.

COCKTAILS, HISTORY, AND A GRAIN OF SALT

According to legend, a white guy was the first person to have the bright idea to put together rum, lime juice, and sugar. That was Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer living in Cuba. As the story goes, at a rambunctious dinner party in 1898 he ran out of gin. Sobriety not being an option, he grabbed a bottle of local rum and whipped up a simple punch with citrus juice, sugar, and mineral water. His guests loved it, and he named it after a local beach, Daiquiri. It’s a fishy narrative, and it also provides a good example of the problems that plague cocktail history: misinformation, revisionism, and the reality that documenting the history of cocktails is an activity often accompanied by drinking cocktails. We take stories like the tale of Jennings Cox with a grain of salt, and that’s part of the reason why we haven’t included much history in this book. If you’re looking for a deeper dive into the past, we highly recommend anything written by David Wondrich, one of the foremost cocktail historians of our time.

THE CORE: RUM

If ever there was a pirate spirit, it’s rum—not because rum is so closely tied to maritime history or because popular culture has aligned it with villainous pirate goons, but because rum, as a category of spirits, is downright resistant to rules. The styles of rum vary depending on where the rum comes from, if and how it’s aged, and how it’s distilled.

The single thread connecting all rums is the base material: sugarcane. Historically speaking, modern-day rum originated as a very unglamorous industrial by-product of sugarcane processing. During colonial times, the Caribbean’s many islands were prized for their agricultural resources, chief among them was sugarcane. Once the sugar was refined and shipped off, an awful lot of molasses was left behind. And because molasses ferments easily, locals quickly seized the opportunity to distill that molasses into a fiery spirit. Though it lacked the refinement of contemporary rums, it was the precursor to what we now use in our Daiquiris.

The evolution of rum into the spirits we know today has a lot to do with the political history of colonization in the Caribbean region. Because different Caribbean islands and territories were controlled by different European nations, various distilling traditions were brought to bear on rum production. Rum is still unofficially classified in keeping with the old colonial borders: Spanish, English, and French, as well as Jamaican. The reality, though, is that modern rums has evolved dramatically and don’t neatly fit into such categorization. Stylistic lines have blurred over the centuries. Plus, many producers now blend rums from different locales and of varying styles into their bottlings or otherwise buck convention, often in an effort to stand out in the market.

One upshot of these dynamics is that there’s a great deal of variation from producer to producer—much more so than with most other strong spirits. Aside from a handful of former French colonies that adopted production standards similar to those for Cognac, rum production methods are beguilingly broad. That said, much of a rum’s personality is determined by the type of still used to make it: a column still or a pot still (with some blends incorporating rums from both). Spirits distilled in column stills are bright and fresh, even after they’ve been aged in oak. Pot stills are less efficient, yielding a lower-proof spirit, but this can be a good thing, allowing the spirit to retain more flavor and have a richer texture. As you start to explore rums and choose your favorites, taste them blind to see whether you can pick out the qualities of one made in a column still versus one made in a pot still. If it’s focused and light, it’s probably the product of a column still. If it’s big and funky, it was probably produced in a pot still.

As with all spirits covered in this book, for the recommended bottles that follow we’ve chosen rums that should be available in most major markets. Within each style, we’ve organized the recommended bottles from light to dark to aged so you can easily find recommendations suited to a given application. Be aware, though, that light rums are often aged; the “light” quality comes from being filtered heavily, which removes a good deal of color, along with some of the flavors associated with aging. We typically lump so-called gold rums into this category because they often have a similar personality, with just a bit more oak flavor, and tend to perform similarly in cocktails. Dark rums are usually aged but also contain added coloring to deepen their hue and, in some cases, to enhance certain flavor characteristics. Aged rums, by comparison, get their deep color primarily through contact with oak barrels.

RUM, RHUM, AND RON

The Spanish word for “rum” is ron, which is what it is called in Puerto Rico and other Spanish-speaking islands. In French, it is rhum, and this is the name for rums made from fresh sugarcane distillate in former French colonies in the Caribbean, as well as Guadeloupe and Martinique, which remain French overseas départements. On islands formerly under British rule, where rum is made from molasses, the English word rum is used.

Light rums are often found in citrusy cocktails like the Daiquiri, as a base or in collaboration with other light spirits. Dark rums are the stuff of Dark and Stormys and are often used in complex tiki-style drinks in which multiple rums are combined to create the core. Aged rums can certainly work in many styles of cocktails—a Daiquiri with aged rum is decadent and delicious! Give an aged Spanish-style rum enough years in oak, where it will develop deep, rich flavors of sweet vanilla and spice, and it will emerge as a beautiful sipping rum. Yet it will also shine in spirituous cocktails like Old-Fashioneds or Manhattans. We particularly like pairing aged Spanish-style rums with Cognac, as in Thick as Thieves (this page)—though, to be fair, we like almost everything with Cognac.

SPANISH-STYLE RUM

The most popular category of rum, Spanish style, includes much of the rum produced in Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador. This style originated with some extremely savvy distillers who, in the nineteenth century, saw the invention of column distillation as an opportunity to create a new path for rum. Using this exceedingly efficient distilling method, they were able to produce rums that were high in proof and largely stripped of the aggressive flavors of pot still rum. Spanish-style rums range from unaged to aged for many years in oak barrels, but most are heavily filtered to remove the fiery personality of the molasses distillate. When aged and filtered, the result is a smooth, rounded rum with lots of vanilla undertones, a lovely companion for the brightness of lime juice in a Daiquiri.

RECOMMENDED BOTTLES

Caña Brava (Panama): Created specifically for cocktail use by our friends at the 86 Co., Caña Brava is an homage to old-style Cuban rums like Havana Club (which still isn’t available in the United States, though there is a brand on the market called Havana Club, which isn’t the same thing). Straw-yellow in color, with subtle flavors of coconut, banana, and a hint of vanilla, this rum is a must-have in our cocktail-making tool kit, specifically Daiquiris and their variations, most deliciously the Mojito.

Flor de Caña 4-Year White (Nicaragua): This has a bit more funk than other light rums (in a good way), and although that may be intimidating in the straight spirit, its personality comes through distinctively—and pleasingly—in cocktails. We love this rum paired with berries, such as strawberries and raspberries, as well as in uncommon combinations, such as with sarsaparilla and birch (see Root Beer Float, this page).

Plantation 3 Stars White (Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad): Though the rums used in the blend are not all from islands following the Spanish tradition, the finished rum performs very much like one. This rum shines in a Daiquiri and other streamlined sours, but because it’s somewhat mild, if you add too many ingredients with strong personalities, such as potent liqueurs or amari, it’s character can get lost.

Gosling’s Black Seal (Bermuda): A Dark and Stormy is not a Dark and Stormy without the dark, molasses flavor of Gosling’s Black Seal rum at the core. Dense in color, it’s surprisingly drinkable on its own. Though notes of rich molasses come through, we find there’s an undeniable banana flavor, along with some spice, that works in a variety of cocktails, especially when matched with another spirit, as in the Ginger Rogers (this page).

Ron del Barrilito Three Stars (Puerto Rico): Though its availability comes and goes due to inconsistent distribution in the United States, this rum is one of our favorites. Though it’s aged between six and ten years, it has a freshness that reminds us of lighter rums. We love it as a base in cocktails and also use it to stretch out rums with a strong personality, such as Jamaican rums or rhum agricole.

Zacapa 23 (Guatemala): A blend of rums aged between six and twenty-five years, Zacapa XO delivers on the promise of older rums; years of aging in a solera system (see this page) results in a deeply complex spirit that’s perfect for sipping and also fantastic as a base for spirituous cocktails, such as riffs on the Old-Fashioned or Manhattan. And because it’s aged in former whiskey barrels, there’s also an affinity between Zacapa rum and American whiskey, in particular rye, which can add spice to Zacapa’s richness to create a complex but balanced flavor.

ENGLISH-STYLE RUM

Many of the rums produced in the former Caribbean colonies of the United Kingdom and its current overseas territories are similar to Spanish-style rums; however, there are some distinguishing features that make them unique in cocktail applications. While they are primarily made from molasses, as are Spanish-style rums, they often have more richness and funkiness thanks to the blending of rums from different distillation processes that yield light-, medium-, and full-bodied rums.

RECOMMENDED BOTTLES

El Dorado White Rum (Guyana): This is a great and inexpensive rum for use in Daiquiri-style cocktails. Its modest personality can get overpowered in spirituous cocktails, though, so we suggest sticking to sour-style drinks with this one.

Cruzan Black Strap (US Virgin Islands): Dark as a moonless night and with distinct flavors of rich molasses and maple syrup, this rum is definitely not a utility player. We most often use it in small quantities to add depth to cocktails, as in the Piña Colada (this page).

Plantation Old-Fashioned Traditional Dark Overproof (Trinidad and Tobago): Warning: High octane! The strength of this rum (69% ABV) is masked by a big punch of smoked fruit flavors, making it dangerously easy to sip straight. It’s the perfect ingredient for deepening the complexity of tiki-style cocktails.

El Dorado 15-Year (Guyana): This rum, with its dark amber color and complex nose, is a great example of the type of rum that shares some of the qualities of a fine aged brandy. We’ll gladly sip this lovely rum any day of the week, but it also works well in cocktails, either as the sole core spirit or as a companion to other aged spirits in Old-Fashioneds, Juleps, or Manhattan-style drinks.

JAMAICAN-STYLE RUMS

Whereas Spanish rums are clean and have a green-grass freshness and English rums have a bit more body and depth, Jamaican rums are an entirely different animal. Stylistically, Jamaican rum has a distinctive, profound funkiness. It’s hard to describe the peculiarity of their flavor profile, but understanding how the spirit is made can provide some illumination. Jamaican rum is always made in pot stills, which gives it both richness and an intense, grassy aroma. Because of its strength and pungency, we rarely use Jamaican rums as the sole base of a cocktail and more often combine it with other spirits or fortified wine (Fair Game, this page, or Last One Standing, this page).

RECOMMENDED BOTTLES

Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum (Jamaica): Clocking in at a highly potent 126 proof, this rum’s alcoholic kick suppresses the funk of Jamaican rum—a strange neutralization that can be dangerous when it’s mixed into a Daiquiri: delicious, but a little too drinkable. We most often use it when we like the flavors of a drink but find them a bit dense; a small dose of Wray & Nephew will spread them out.

Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Gold (Jamaica): Ed Hamilton is a man who knows rum. The renowned drinks writer is now importing personally selected rums of all varieties, including this bottling, which falls somewhere between the feistiness of Wray & Nephew and the density of the dark and aged Jamaican rums described below. We love using this, along with other rums, for the core of a Mai Tai.

Smith & Cross (Jamaica): This is, hands down, the least nuanced spirit we’ve ever experienced: funky, deeply sweet, high proof, and not too far from what we imagine a mixture of gasoline and molasses would smell like after years of aging in oak barrels. But strangely, that can be a good thing! Used in very small quantities, Smith & Cross will shine through, adding a tropical slant to a cocktail. Think of it almost like less-potent bitters, a highly flavorful ingredient that can coax tropical character out of other spirits.

Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Dark (Jamaica): With just as much personality as Smith & Cross but less sweetness, this rum is refined enough to use in larger quantities but still packs a pungent aroma. A Daiquiri made with this rum will be simultaneously rich and refreshing, with a lingering banana flavor.

Appleton Estate Reserve Blend (Jamaica): Less pungent than other Jamaican rums, those produced by Appleton are almost elegant in comparison. While the Reserve Blend retains a noticeable Jamaican personality—rich molasses flavor with a grassy finish—this blend of twenty aged rums has a bit more nuance. Of all the Jamaican rums, this is the one we use most often in cocktails. It works beautifully as a base in both shaken and stirred drinks, as well as in collaboration with other rums, brandy, whiskey, or even blended scotch. It has a bright, fresh, citrusy character, and whereas other aged Jamaican rums tend to have a stewed banana flavor, this one tastes like fresh fruit.

FRENCH-STYLE RUMS

During the Napoleonic Wars of the early nineteenth century, a British blockade made it difficult for the French to import sugar from their colonies in the Caribbean, so the French set out to find a way to make sugar in France. Their scientists developed a way to process beets to yield something very similar to sugarcane crystals. At the same time, French colonial economies in the Caribbean built nearly entirely on sugar production were devastated. With decreased European demand for Caribbean-made sugar, excess sugarcane was juiced and used to make rum—a departure from using molasses, a by-product of sugar production, as the base. This produced a rum that was quite distinct from its molasses-based cousins, with an intense fruity aroma and vegetal flavor. Each sip offers the distinct impression of chewing on raw sugarcane.

Today, French-style rums are produced primarily on the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante, and Haiti. Like other rums, French-style rums may be unaged or aged for many years. But whereas other rum styles don’t have strictly standardized aging categorizations, French-style rums use many of the same age classifications borrowed from Cognac. In fact, many are also made using copper pot stills, just as Cognac is.

These distillates are called rhum agricole, and in cocktails, they behave differently than other rums. Whereas the softness and richness of molasses-based Spanish- and English-style rums provides a broad structure on which to build flavor, the grit and personality of rhum agricole has a sharpness that enhances citrus. Molasses-based rums do allow citrus to come through, and they keep it front and center; rhum agricole, on the other hand, makes its presence known with a bright tropical tang that’s deeply refreshing.

In addition to using rhum agricole to enhance citrus, we also use it in ways similar to most unaged eaux-de-vie: as a modifier alongside another base ingredient. This can be another rum with a lighter flavor, to give it greater complexity (like our Root Daiquiri), or it can be a completely different type of spirit. Unaged rhum agricole mingles well with tequila or gin, and aged rhum agricole is particularly delicious with Cognac. In low-ABV cocktails based on sherry or fortified rum, small quantities of flavorful rhum agricole can boost the overall flavor of a cocktail, making a lower-octane cocktail drink like a full-strength one.

RECOMMENDED BOTTLES

Barbancourt White (Haiti): Veering in a different direction than the punchy rums from Martinique, Haitian rums from the Barbancourt distillery have enough personality to be distinctive, but not so much that they dominate cocktails like other French-style rums. Though we also love Barbancourt’s aged bottlings, the white is a beautiful addition to any Daiquiri lover’s bar.

La Favorite Coeur de Canne (Martinique): Rhum agricole can be a bit pricier than other rums, but this is a fantastically affordable option. A light rum, it’s fruity with the aroma of fresh green grass. We love using it in tropical-style cocktails, where it works especially well with pineapple, in either juice or syrup form.

Rhum JM VSOP (Martinique): This rum has orange and chocolate flavors that are balanced by just enough time in oak. Its lingering, buttery finish makes it a fine sipping rum, and it’s also useful in spirituous cocktails as a soloist or alongside bourbon or Calvados.

Neisson Réserve Spéciale (Martinique): For the opulent cocktail maker, this pricy bottle will not disappoint. Spirit snobs who believe that it should only be drunk neat may bemoan tossing this nutty and highly aged spirit into a Daiquiri, but try it…just once! Truth be told, we do generally suggest reserving it for sipping; however, it also makes for a truly unique Old-Fashioned.

CACHAÇA

It wasn’t that long ago that quality cachaças were hard to find outside Brazil. In fact, back in those days, we often used rhum agricole when making cocktails that called for cachaça. But times have changed.

A native of South America, and particularly Brazil, cachaça can be a bit confusing for spirit novices: it’s a distillate from sugarcane juice, so why don’t we just call it rum—or, more appropriately, rhum agricole? The difference lies in two key factors: the process of distillation used to make cachaça, and the unique nature of its aged styles. Cachaça must be made from Brazilian sugarcane and must be distilled only once (whereas rhum agricole is generally distilled twice) and result in a spirit between 38% and 48% ABV. This single distillation to such a low proof produces a liquor that is rich in body and pungently flavorful. In comparison to rhum agricole, which is distilled to about 70% ABV, a quality cachaça is softer and easier to drink, with sweet flavors due to the restrained distillation.

Many cachaças are unaged, but some end up in wood for years. If unaged, cachaça is referred to as white (branca, clássica, tradicional, or prata—the latter meaning silver), indicating that the spirit has been stored in neutral stainless steel containers or woods that don’t color the spirit. If aged (envelhecida), it could also be referred to
as gold (ouro).

WHITE CACHAÇA

For cocktail use, it may be best to think of lighter cachaças as similar to a light rhum agricole: they’re grassy and complex, with broad flavors of banana and dried stone fruit. Pairing them with citrus, especially lime, is a great start, though some of the more floral white cachaças can stand up to vermouth in a Martini-style cocktail. As with rhum agricole, add cachaça in smaller amounts to prevent it from dominating the party.

RECOMMENDED BOTTLES

Avuá Prata Cachaça: While this cachaça has the grassy aroma of rhum agricole, it also boasts uniquely pretty aromas of cinnamon and violets. A touch of vanilla rounds off the finish, which makes the spirit fantastically useful in cocktails. We use it as the base in many drinks, or let ½ ounce mingle with dry sherry or vermouth.

Novo Fogo Silver: In the United States, this could be considered a benchmark cachaça. Rich, bold, and vegetal, it’s a workhorse that has tons of character
but isn’t overly aggressive, and it’s an excellent cachaça for Caipirinhas.

AGED CACHAÇAS

Because cachaça can be aged with many varieties of wood, it offers a great opportunity to study the effects of different woods on spirits. Most spirits are aged in American and French oak, both of which impart flavors of clove, cinnamon, vanilla, and stewed fruits. But in Brazil, a wide variety of indigenous woods are used to age cachaça, resulting in a range of unique flavors in the final product.

RECOMMENDED BOTTLE

Avuá Amburana Cachaça: Aged for two years in Latin American amburana wood, this cachaça has become one of our secret weapons in variations on both the Old-Fashioned and the Manhattan. The aging process lends the spirit a pronounced cinnamon spiciness unique to the wood, while the vanilla-heavy base spirit gives it a broad and sweet substructure similar to that of spirits aged on oak. These elements combine to create an effect almost like liquid French toast. It blends beautifully with many aged spirits, especially when used in a small quantity, as a modifier. As the core of a cocktail it can be a little overwhelming, so we tend to use it in a split base with at least one other spirit.

EXPERIMENTING WITH THE CORE

Rum comes in many styles, and you can smell and taste the differences. But how do those different styles of rum interact with other ingredients in cocktails? The Daiquiri is the perfect starting point for exploring this. Here’s an experiment that displays the unique nature of three different rums. Assemble the ingredients and equipment for three recipes below. Ideally, you would shake them at the same time; if that isn’t possible, make them all in close succession so they’ll have a similar temperature and frothy texture when you taste them side by side.

These three Daiquiris are made using exactly the same recipe, but isn’t it amazing how different they are? Daiquiri (Light Rum) is most similar to our root recipe, and you will probably note that it’s exactly the same as Daiquiri (More Lime Juice) in the experiment on this page. It’s undeniably refreshing, and the star of the show is the bright and unmistakable flavor of freshly pressed lime juice. In Daiquiri (Funky Rum), the focus shifts to the complex rhum agricole and its grassy flavor, which makes for a vegetal, almost savory iteration. In contrast to both, Daiquiri (Aged Rum), made with an aged Jamaican rum blend, displays rich, fruity peach and nectarine flavors. Clearly, playing with the core spirit can lead a cocktail in many different directions.

Daiquiri (Light Rum)

2 ounces Caña Brava white rum

1 ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe.

Daiquiri (Funky Rum)

2 ounces La Favorite Coeur de Canne rhum agricole blanc

1 ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe.

Daiquiri (Aged Rum)

2 ounces Appleton Estate Reserve Blend rum

1 ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe.

Amaretto Sour

CLASSIC

To extend the experiment even further, you can use a liqueur or even a fortified wine as the core. And indeed, some classic sours are made in just this way. The Amaretto Sour is a great example. Because it calls for a full 2 ounces of nutty, sweet amaretto, some adjustments to the other ingredients are needed; to keep the cocktail from being way too sweet, we decrease the amount of simple syrup.

2 ounces Lazzaroni amaretto

1 ounce fresh lemon juice

¼ ounce simple syrup (this page)

1 dash Angostura bitters

Garnish: 1 orange half wheel and 1 brandied cherry on a skewer

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a double Old-Fashioned glass over 1 large ice cube. Garnish with the orange half wheel and cherry.

Fresh Gimlet

CLASSIC

A more dramatic way to experiment with the core is to use a completely different spirit. A classic gimlet is made with lime cordial, a syrup originally devised to preserve lime juice for long sea voyages. Here, we make a version with fresh lime juice—essentially a Daiquiri made with gin. In keeping with our root Daiquiri recipe, we’ve included a full ounce of lime juice for a bright pop of citrus.

2 ounces Plymouth gin

1 ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Garnish: 1 lime wedge

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with the lime wedge.

THE BALANCE: CITRUS JUICE

When we travel abroad, we often wonder why familiar drinks taste different, and generally much better, in faraway places. Is it the romance of travel? The thrill of being far from home? The answer may come down to something much more practical: cocktails made with fresh ingredients grown nearby taste better. A lime in Chicago will not taste the same as a lime in Thailand.

This is just one of the many reasons it’s hard to make blanket statements about using citrus juice for balance in cocktails. Beyond that, there are so many varieties of various types of citrus. Consider oranges. Within this broad classification there are both bitter oranges and sweet oranges. Of the latter, there are several key types (common oranges, navel oranges, and blood oranges). Then, among common oranges, there are dozens and dozens of unique cultivars.

Of course, the flavor of any given citrus fruit can also vary due to a host of environmental and growing conditions. Lemons and limes tend to be fairly consistent, but we still recommend tasting the juice to make sure it isn’t a great deal sweeter or more acidic than usual. Grapefruits and oranges tend to be more variable, so it’s even more important to taste their juice.

Generally speaking, most citrus fruit have a similar structure: a peel composed of a thick outer skin (the exocarp, or flavedo) and the bitter pith beneath it
(the mesocarp, or albedo), and within the peel, segments that contain numerous small vesicles filled with juice. Some varieties contain seeds, and others are seedless.

If you slice off a thin swath of citrus skin and hold it up to a light, you’ll see a bunch of tiny round circles. These are pockets that hold flavorful oils. If you then squeeze the peel, it will expel a mist of oil, and depending on the fruit, you’ll probably smell a pungent aroma. This mist is what’s expressed over cocktails, and because it’s an oil, it will float on top of the drink, perfuming the cocktail as it’s sipped.

When using the skin as a garnish or as an ingredient in infusions or syrups, a zester is generally the best tool for the job. Be careful not to go so deep that you get to the white pith, because it’s usually unpleasantly bitter. However, some citrus fruits, such as kumquats, have so little pith that the fruit can be eaten whole, and some have little enough that the entire peel can be used, such as some varieties of mandarin oranges.

With other citrus fruits—lemons, limes, oranges, and especially grapefruits—including any amount of pith on a twist can adversely impact a drink’s flavor. For example, consider the lemon and orange peels we drop into the glass to garnish an Old-Fashioned (this page). In addition to providing a bright aroma, they flavor the cocktail because they’re submerged in it. If either twist includes some of the pith, the cocktail will become increasingly bitter over time.

It’s also important to be aware of the pith when using a conical juicer. With too much pressure, the juicer can penetrate into the pith and extract its bitterness.

Citrus segments can also be muddled to take advantage of all aspects of the fruit: juice, aromatic peel, and bitter pith. We generally muddle citrus that is flavorful, has highly acidic juice, and contains aromatic skin oils: oranges (and orange varieties such as mandarins), lemons, and limes all fit the bill. When muddled, this spectrum of flavors can be extracted, creating a highly dynamic citrus expression in a cocktail—best shown in the classic Caipirinha (this page). We rarely muddle grapefruits, as their oils will dominate a drink’s flavor and overwhelm your palate. Also, be mindful of seeds: if a seedy piece of citrus is muddled, the drink can become quite bitter. Do your best to remove seeds from a piece of citrus before muddling.

One last note on citrus: As a general rule of thumb, we tend to pair lime juice with unaged spirits (light rum, gin, blanco tequila, vodka) and lemon juice with aged spirits (bourbon, scotch, Cognac). There are, of course, many exceptions to this rule.

USING GRAPEFRUIT IN COCKTAILS

Citrus juice can hit all four categories of taste: sweet, tart, salty, and bitter. Grapefruit juice is usually fairly balanced in terms of tartness and sweetness, but it does tend to be noticeably bitter. Therefore, we typically combine grapefruit juice with lemon or lime juice plus a sweet syrup to ensure good balance in cocktails.

Another issue is that the flavor of grapefruits can vary widely. When making cocktails that have a large proportion of grapefruit juice, be sure to taste the juice before using it, and if it’s particularly acidic, consider adding some simple syrup to compensate. If, on the other hand, it’s particularly sweet, you get the best results by decreasing the amount of other sweet ingredients in the cocktail.

As for the skin, grapefruit twists can add an intense perfume to a cocktail, but its oils can be powerful and numb the taste buds if used too liberally. So we caution against rubbing an expressed grapefruit twist on the rim of a glass. It’s better to express the grapefruit twist well above the drink, then drop it in. Even so, the bitter oils, and especially any bitter pith present on the twist, will flavor the cocktail quickly, so we often recommend that guests remove grapefruit twists after a few minutes.

COMMON CITRUS FRUITS AND THEIR COCKTAIL APPLICATIONS

LIMES

Persian, Tahitian, and Bearss

• Large fruits with relatively high levels of juice

• Used more for juice than for wheels, wedges, or twists

• Seedless, which makes them especially good for muddling

Mexican and Key Lime

• Smaller fruits with less juice than Persian limes

• Juice more acidic than that of Persian limes

• Uniquely aromatic peels that are good for flavoring syrups

Kaffir and Makrut

• Not great for juicing (juice is astringent and unpleasant)

• Fragrant leaves are great for muddling and infusions

LEMONS

Eureka

• Sweet and tart juice, typical “lemon” flavor

• Thick skin is good for twists

Lisbon

• Similar juice to Eureka, usually more juice per fruit

• Thinner skin that’s less well suited to twists

Meyer

• Incredibly juicy

• Highly aromatic zest that’s great in infusions and syrups

• Juice more acidic than Eureka or Lisbon, so a good adjunct to either to bolster the tartness of a cocktail

GRAPEFRUIT

Ruby Red

• Extremely juicy, bright acidity and high sweetness

• Dark, thick red skin, great for twists

Star Ruby

• Sweet, slightly tart juice that’s darker in color than that of other varieties

• Thinner skin than Ruby Red, less useful for twists than Ruby Red but great for half-wheel garnish

Duncan

• Juice is similar in sweetness to Ruby Red and Star Ruby, but with a crisper clarity

• White-fleshed fruit

ORANGES

Valencia

• Packed with sweet juice that works well in cocktails

• Uniform skin that’s quite thin; include some pith in twists to give them structure

Navel

• Juice less vibrant than that of Valencias, so it’s less dynamic in cocktails

• Thick skin that’s great for twists

Blood

• Juice is dark red, but generally lacks much acidity or noticeable flavor

• Skin is dark orange and aromatic

OTHER CITRUS

Tangerines

• Complex, flavorful juice that can be an interesting substitute for orange juice

• Thin skin is packed with sweet, aromatic oils

Clementines

• Supersweet juice that works best when combined with lemon juice or Citric Acid Solution (this page)

• Thick skin that’s good for infusions

• Usually seedless, making it good for muddling

Mandarin Oranges

• Larger than clementines but with supersweet juice that can be used in similar ways

• Peel flimsy, so unsuitable for twists, but sweet and aromatic, making it great for syrups and infusions

• May have seeds, so be mindful when muddling

Satsumas

• Similar in size, flavor, and application to clementines, with supersweet juice

• Seedless variety with loose skin, making satsumas difficult to use as garnish but great for muddling

Kumquats

• Tiny fruits with extremely tart juice

• Supersweet and edible skin, perfect for muddling segments, or use whole fruit to make syrups

Yuzu

• Sweet and tart juice, sort of like a mix between a lime and a mandarin orange

• Intensely aromatic skin, used to make into cordial for use in cocktails or sour-style drinks

Pomelo

• Similar to grapefruit, though larger fruits, with slightly sweeter juice—can be used in similar ways to grapefruit

• Potent skin makes dramatic and aromatic twists

EXPERIMENTING WITH THE BALANCE

As we saw at the beginning of this chapter, the daiquiri’s balance is found through the collaboration between citrus and sugar and there is some flexibility in the amount of each depending on your preferences for tart or sweet. Here’s a fun Goldilocks experiment to test where your preferences for sweet and sour fall. Gather a shaker, jigger, cocktail strainer, three chilled coupes, ice, 2½ ounces of fresh lime juice, 2 ounces of simple syrup, and, of course, a bottle of rum. For the purposes of this experiment, we forgo the garnish in order to keep the focus on the sweet-tart balance in the cocktail itself.

We find this side-by-side test to be invaluable for learning about how to balance spirits, citrus, and sweeteners and seeing how small tweaks to a recipe can transform a cocktail from tasty to delicious. Daiquiri (Classic) is a fine drink. Daiquiri (Less Sweetener) isn’t very pleasant; even a small decrease in simple syrup makes the cocktail both too boozy and too tart. But Daiquiri (More Lime Juice), where the amount of lime juice is increased by ¼ ounce, is fresh, lively, and deeply satisfying. Because the Caña Brava is a fairly light rum, the flavor of the lime juice (not just its acidity) becomes a bigger contributor to the cocktail’s overall flavor.

You may very well think that Daiquiri (More Lime Juice) is too tart—that’s okay! Daiquiri (Classic) is probably more to your taste. That simple realization will be so helpful in choosing recipes, modifying them, and developing your own.

Once you understand the basic sour template, you can swap in any spirit for the rum; though we can’t promise the result will be delicious, it will be balanced. Likewise, you can substitute lemon juice for the lime juice, or you can use a different sweetener. This very flexibility has allowed the sour to proliferate into a huge family of cocktails.

Now that we’ve highlighted some of the key qualities of various citrus fruits, let’s take a look at how experimenting with them can push a cocktail in new directions. Sure, lemon and lime juices are most commonly used in cocktails. In fact, for that very reason substituting or incorporating other citrus juices is a great technique for developing new recipes. It’s also a time-honored tradition, as displayed in a classic Daiquiri variation
from the 1920s: the Hemingway Daiquiri.

Daiquiri (Classic)

2 ounces Caña Brava white rum

¾ ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe.

Daiquiri (Less Sweetener)

2 ounces Caña Brava white rum

¾ ounce fresh lime juice

½ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe.

Daiquiri (More Lime Juice)

2 ounces Caña Brava white rum

1 ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe.

Pisco Sour

CLASSIC

Some drinks benefit from using a combination of lemon and lime juices: lemon for its mild flavor and lime for its brightness. For our take on the classic Pisco Sour, this is exactly what we do, as we’ve found that this cocktail isn’t nearly as delicious when we use just one or the other. The pungency of the lime juice plays well with the gritty texture of the pisco, and the relative neutrality of lemon juice prevents the lime from taking over.

2 ounces Campo de Encanto Grand and Noble pisco

½ ounce fresh lemon juice

½ ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

1 egg white

Garnish: 3 drops Angostura bitters

Dry shake all the ingredients, then shake again with ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Carefully garnish the top of the foam with the bitters.

Hemingway Daiquiri

CLASSIC

Grapefruit juice has a delicious bitter-tart flavor that makes it one of our favorite alternatives to lemon and lime juice in cocktails. To get an idea of how grapefruit juice affects the balance of a drink, we’ll break down the classic Hemingway Daiquiri. Because grapefruit juice isn’t as acidic as lime juice, simply substituting 1 ounce of it for the lime juice in our root Daiquiri recipe would yield a thin cocktail. And as you can see, the recipe for this classic variation also contains a somewhat generous amount of lime juice. Then, because both the grapefruit juice and the maraschino liqueur add sweetness, the amount of simple syrup is dialed way back. This drink is very much about the relationship between rum, grapefruit juice, and maraschino liqueur, but it gets its amazing vibrancy from the lime juice and simple syrup.

1½ ounces Flor de Caña 4-year white rum

½ ounce Luxardo maraschino liqueur

1 ounce fresh grapefruit juice

½ ounce fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon simple syrup (this page)

Garnish: 1 lime wedge

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with the lime wedge.

Lemon and lime will have varying levels of acidity and sweetness (and you should taste to ensure they’re near what you usually get), but most that we get are relatively consistent. Grapefruits and oranges, however, can have varying levels of sweetness and acidity. When making cocktails that have a large proportion of grapefruit juice, like the Hemingway Daiquiri, this variability can be more noticeable. Taste the juice before using it, and if it’s particularly acidic, consider upping the simple syrup to ¼ ounce instead of 1 teaspoon. If, on the other hand, it’s particularly sweet, you may find the best balance by leaving out the simple syrup altogether.

THE SEASONING: CITRUS GARNISHES

In chapter 2, we established that aroma can season a drink. In the case of a Martini, that aroma can be introduced in the form of a citrus twist, olive, or pickled onion garnish. With the Daiquiri, the lime wedge garnish serves a similar function, as do citrus wedges, wheels, and half wheels in other cocktails.

But a wedge of citrus can do more: It can be squeezed into the cocktail to add acidity, which allows people to customize their drinks. Squeezing the wedge also releases citrus oils into the drink, so it serves as an aromatic seasoning, too. And even if the wedge remains untouched on the rim of the glass, it still provides a noticeable hit of bright citrus aroma.

Another way citrus can add seasoning to a drink is if you drop a wheel or half wheel of citrus into a drink before serving, as we do in the Negroni (this page). Some of the juice will infuse the drink, and alcohol will draw out some of the citrus oils, gently seasoning the drink as it’s consumed. This will slowly flavor the cocktail as it’s consumed. In the Martini, we addressed how a lemon twist left too long in a cocktail can add bitter flavors (see this page), and the same is true of a half wheel of citrus—though there’s greater leeway. When drinking a cocktail with a citrus wheel dropped in, we recommend removing it when you’re finished with about half of the drink.

EXPERIMENTING WITH THE SEASONING

A wedge of citrus can have a profound impact on a cocktail. Try the following simple experiment to see not only how the juice from a lime wedge can shift the flavor of the cocktail, but also how throwing a spent wedge into a drink can slowly change its flavor.

First, prepare two Daiquiris using your favorite recipe in this chapter. For the first Daiquiri, leave the citrus wedge perched on the rim of the glass. For the second, squeeze the lime wedge into the drink and then drop the spent wedge into the cocktail.

Take a sip of each. The first thing you’ll realize is that the second Daiquiri is noticeably tarter than the first—no surprise there. You may also notice a difference in aroma due to the pungent oils that were released when you squeezed the lime wedge. You may detect a similar aroma, though much fainter, in the first Daiquiri, simply from the lime wedge on the edge of the glass.

Next, let both cocktails sit for 2 minutes, then taste again. The second Daiquiri may now taste more bitter; that’s because the alcohol in the cocktail has begun to draw out bitter flavor compounds from the pith. After 5 minutes, the difference between the two Daiquiris will be even more noticeable: the first will still taste balanced and refreshing, if a little warm, whereas the second will be distinctly bitter and tart, unpleasant qualities that are
only emphasized as the cocktail warms.

What does this reveal about citrus wedges and their impact on seasoning? For one, it provides insight into how a seemingly innocuous garnish can push the flavor of a cocktail out of balance. For another, it can inform how you use citrus wedges. Personally, we love a tart drink, so we squeeze the wedge into the cocktail and then discard it.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY

DEVON TARBY

Devon Tarby is a partner in Proprietors LLC and has worked behind the company’s bars, as well as at the Varnish in Los Angeles.

The Daiquiri is my favorite drink of all time. It’s always the right drink for the moment; you don’t even have to think about it. If I’m tired, it revs me up. If I’m stressed, it lifts my spirits. If you want to get me to stay out later than I should, give me a Daiquiri. It’s my Gatorade.

Eric Alperin taught me how to make a proper Daiquiri. Before I worked at his bar, the Varnish, I’d never made a classic Daiquiri before. We paid excruciating attention to every detail there, and our Daiquiris embodied the principles that made the Varnish a special bar. We hand-squeezed our limes right before service. We used hand-carved block ice at the perfect temperature, which we swapped out every twenty minutes. We chilled our glassware in a deep freezer. Once in a while, though, we’d let loose late at night and practice our free pour skills by making Daiquiris. Of course, the guy who had worked at a Miami nightclub always made the best ones.

The Daiquiri is a merciless cocktail. It’s a demonstration of all the tiny things a person needs to do behind the bar to make a great cocktail—a true test of the skills of a bartender. Some drinks are more forgiving if you overpour or underpour, or if you shake too much or too little, but the Daiquiri will reveal any flaws if you fuck up.

The hardest part about making Daiquiris is getting the shake just right. In fact, it’s the drink we use to teach proper shaking technique, and a “Daiquiri shake” is our shorthand for the longest shake. You really have to give it your all to get the right texture; it probably requires more physical exertion than any other cocktail. I adjust my gym schedule to skip cardio days when I’m working behind the bar—it’s that good of a workout.

I have a few personal rules for making Daiquiri variations. First, it still has to taste and feel like a Daiquiri: it needs to be brightly flavored, with just enough sugar to curb the citrus but more acidic than other sour-style drinks. Second, it needs to be served in a coupe; as soon as you pour it over ice, it ceases to be a Daiquiri. I also try to stay away from any variations that contain more than ½ ounce of aged spirits, and I avoid using overproof rum. Lastly, you have to be able to drink it in a few sips.

I spend a lot of time making complicated, layered cocktails. I taste a lot of complex flavors on a regular basis. For me, drinking a Daiquiri is like taking a break from it all, like sinking into the couch and watching cartoons.

Tarby Party

1¾ ounces Diplomático Blanco Reserve rum

¼ ounce Neisson rhum agricole blanc

1 ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Garnish: 1 lime wedge

Shake all the ingredients with 1 large ice cube until very cold and frothy. Strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with the lime wedge.

EXPLORING TECHNIQUE: SHAKING TO DILUTION

We’ve said this before and have yet to find a better analogy: shaking a cocktail is like sex. Everyone has a motion and rhythm that works best for them, and it takes a lot of practice to develop your personal style. But there the similarities end. With any cocktail that’s shaken and served up, which we call shaking to dilution or full-dilution shaking, the goal is the same: to create a drink that’s cold, properly diluted, and well aerated. In the case of the Daiquiri, the aim is to create a frothy drink with a noticeable layer of white foam resting on top of the cocktail.

Your shake can take many paths to get to this goal, depending on the style and size shaker you use, the type of ice you add to the shaker, and your own personal shaking motion. The last of these is personal to you, so we won’t address it here. As for the shaker, at all of our bars—and at many others—the preferred shaker setup is a pair of weighted stainless steel shaking tins, one small (18 ounces), and one large (28 ounces). This “tin on tin” setup is ideal for many reasons—read our first book if you want to learn them all! However, other setups, such as a Boston shaker, cobbler shaker, or whatever gear you prefer to use, will also work. Therefore, our discussion of shaking to dilution will focus on the final variable: the type of ice. In the sections that follow, we’ll walk you through how we train our staff to shake cocktails using three styles of ice: 1 big block, 1-inch cubes, and what we refer to as “shitty” ice.

HOW TO SHAKE WITH ONE LARGE ICE CUBE

After shaking tens of thousands of drinks, we’ve landed on what we think is the best ice to use for drinks that are shaken to dilution, such as the Daiquiri: a single large cube that’s about 2½ inches across. The single-cube method has a couple of advantages: a large chunk of ice moving through liquid creates a lot of aeration, and also doesn’t create many tiny ice chips, which we don’t like in our Daiquiris, eliminating the need to double strain the drink (first through a strainer, then through a fine-mesh sieve). Using one block of ice also makes it easier to develop a consistent shaking style and duration, because the ice is no longer a variable you have to adjust for.

Begin by building the cocktail in the smaller shaking tin. We usually add the cheapest ingredients, such as syrups and fresh juice, first in case we screw up and have to start over. Building the drink before you add ice also lets you control when the dilution begins.

Next, gently slide the block of ice into the tin, using a barspoon to gently lower it if that’s helpful for you. Then, coming in at an angle, place the large tin over the small tin so one side of the connected shakers forms a straight line.

Hit the top of the large tin with the palm of your hand to seal the shaker; you’ll know it’s sealed when you can grab the top tin and the bottom tin stays attached.

Pick the shaker up with the top of the small tin facing your body. This will put you, not others, in harm’s way if the tins should happen to separate during shaking. Place each hand in a comfortable position on either end of the shakers, using a secure grip that requires as little contact as possible; if your palms are all over the shaker, they’ll warm the shakers and result in a cocktail that’s warmer than desired when it reaches the target dilution.

Give the shaker a few slow turns to temper the ice. This will keep it from shattering when you begin to shake.

Shaking is all about cadence—not because the rhythm has anything to do with the quality of the cocktail, but because it helps you create a consistent style and duration each time you make a drink. Feel free to develop your own motion, but we find that the most ergonomic technique is to shake it in front of your chest using a push-pull motion that follows a gentle arc. The goal is to make the ice move around the inside of the shaker in an elliptical motion (versus a straight, piston-like motion), as this rounds the edges of the ice rather than shattering it into pieces.

Start to shake slowly, then progressively speed up until you reach an intensity that you can comfortably maintain for about 10 seconds. After 10 seconds at top speed, start to slow down, taking about as long as you did to speed up.

Set the shaker down with the large tin on the bottom. Squeeze the sides of the large tin as you push the small tin away to unlock and separate the halves. Strain the drink through a Hawthorne strainer as soon as possible.

Once you’ve developed a shake with a consistent duration and slow-fast-slow rhythm, you can begin to pay more attention to what’s going on inside the shaker. The chunk-chunk sound of the big ice block will become more muted as its edges are rounded off, and you’ll hear and feel the volume of liquid increase as the ice melts and dilutes the drink. And, of course, you’ll also feel the shaker getting progressively colder. You’ll need to shake many, many cocktails to get an accurate feel for when this audible and tactile feedback indicates that a drink is ready to strain and serve, but that’s not a bad thing. Practicing making drinks can be a lot of fun, and we’re sure you can find people to help you enjoy the results along the way.

HOW TO SHAKE WITH 1-INCH ICE CUBES

Shaking with multiple 1-inch ice cubes is quite similar to the preceding method. Ideally, you’d use ice from a commercial machine, such as a Kold-Draft. Ice from an ice tray in your freezer will also work, but it will contain trapped gases and impurities that make it more prone to shattering and thus diluting the drink more quickly.

Start as in the preceding method, building the cocktail in the small shaking tin. Then add enough ice cubes to the small tin that the liquid nearly reaches the top. Seal the shaker as directed above, and roll it a few times to temper the ice.

Using the same motion and rhythm described in the previous method, shake the drink. Because you’re using smaller ice cubes, you won’t need to shake as long; there’s more surface area of ice in contact with the liquid, so it will dilute more quickly. With this method you’ll also hear a difference in sound as the ice rounds off and melts, but it won’t be as pronounced as when you shake with one big block of ice. The more noticeable sound will be the increasing amount of liquid sloshing around the shaker.

Double strain the drink, through both a Hawthorne strainer and a fine-mesh sieve to catch any small ice chips, which will ruin the texture of Daiquiris and similar drinks.

HOW TO SHAKE WITH SHITTY ICE

Whether is comes from a hotel hallway, your freezer’s ice maker, or ice cubes smaller than 1 inch made in a tray in your freezer, everyday shitty ice is the most difficult form to work with because of its small size, and because it’s usually wet and full of impurities—all factors that speed the rate of dilution. So, though it may sound counterintuitive, when we have to work with shitty ice, we actually use more ice.

As in the previous methods, begin by building the cocktail in the small shaking tin. Fill the tin with ice so that the liquid nearly reaches the top, then add ice to the large tin until it’s about one-quarter full. (If you’re using a cobbler shaker, you can go ahead and fill that baby up to the rim with ice.) Seal the shaker. Then, in this case there’s no need to temper the ice by rolling the shaker; instead, you want to work quickly to avoid overdiluting the drink.

Using the same motion and rhythm as in the previous methods, shake the drink. The overall duration of your shake will be even shorter than with 1-inch cubes. And because you’ve packed the shaker with so much ice, you won’t hear much movement other than the sloshing of liquid. In fact, shitty ice often fuses together into one big mass.

Be doubly sure to double strain the drink.

One large ice cube 15 seconds

One-inch ice cubes 10 seconds

Shitty Ice 5 seconds

GAUGING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF YOUR TECHNIQUE

You can assess the effectiveness of your shaking technique by looking at what’s called the wash line of the cocktail—the level of the liquid below the rim of the glass—after you’ve strained it into a glass. This isn’t just about the amount of liquid in the glass, but also about what the top of the drink looks like. For a Daiquiri, you want a layer of white foam resting atop the drink, and that foam should stick around for 30 seconds or longer. This indicates that you’ve introduced enough air while shaking. If you don’t see this foamy cap, you might not be shaking hard enough or for long enough during the most intense stage of shaking. A long, slow shake will never yield this foamy layer. And while a short, vigorous shake might create a foamy layer, in all likelihood the wash line won’t be as high, which means the drink didn’t reach full dilution.

GLASSWARE: TIKI MUGS

While cocktails within this chapter come in every form of glass, we thought it’d be the perfect excuse to talk about a famous Daiquiri variation, the Zombie Punch (this page), and the wide world of tiki glassware, which comes in so many shapes, sizes, and often ridiculous forms.

There are a handful of tiki-style mugs to choose from. The Mai Tai–style glass is squat and round and holds around 16 ounces of liquid. These are good for any sour-size cocktail (4 ounces before dilution) that’s served over crushed ice. Cooler-style tiki glasses also hold about 16 ounces of liquid, but they’re taller, narrower, and intended for coolers and swizzle-style drinks. The biggest and most iconic of the tiki glasses we use—not counting scorpion bowls and other outlandish vessels meant for communal imbibing—is the zombie glass, named after the cocktail and accommodating up to 20 ounces of tropical terror.

A couple of years ago, we designed our own tiki mug with the goal of creating an all-purpose vessel that could be used for all styles of tiki drinks. Ours holds 14 ounces and is tall like a zombie glass, but we avoided any hint of the Polynesian in favor of a flintlock-toting pirate atop a pile of skulls. (If we’ve offended any pirates—or zombies!—among our guests, we’re sorry.)

Zombie Punch

DON THE BEACHCOMBER, 1934

Former Death & Co head bartender Brian Miller’s reworked recipe set the stage for this version of our own. A tiki-head of unquenchable enthusiasm, Brian meticulously studied the Zombie form and built a delicious (and highly potent) cocktail (see our first book, Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails for the recipe). Our homage backs off slightly on the booze (only a little!) and tweaks the rum mix a bit. Depending on the availability of rum in your area, the key is to ensure the mix of a Jamaican rum, an aged Spanish-style rum, and aged 151 rum—also known as firewater. Drink with caution.

1¼ ounces Appleton Signature Blend rum

1¼ ounces Ron del Barrilito 3-Star rum

¾ ounce Hamilton Demerara 151 Overproof rum

½ ounce Donn’s Mix No. 1 (this page)

¾ ounce fresh lime juice

½ ounce Tailor Velvet Falernum

1 teaspoon House Grenadine (this page)

2 dashes Pernod Absinthe

Garnish: Mint sprig, 1 cherry, 1 orange slice, 1 parasol, and 1 pineapple wedge

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a Zombie-size tiki mug filled with crushed ice. Garnish with the mint sprig, cherry, orange slice, parasol, and pineapple wedge.

DAIQUIRI VARIATIONS

Variations of the Daiquiri can come in many different forms, so long as there’s a core assemblage of spirit, acidity, and sweetness. Here we explore some of our favorite classic variations and some of our original takes on the form, demonstrating how swapping in different base spirits (or more than one in a single cocktail), adding flavorful syrups, or seasoning with herbs and bitters can create vastly different cocktails.

Southside

CLASSIC

In bartending circles, there’s an ongoing debate about whether this classic Daiquiri variation should be made with lemon juice or lime juice. Frankly, it’s delicious either way, but we lean toward lime for its brightness when combined with mint. The Southside is similar to our Fresh Gimlet (this page) but even more refreshing thanks to the muddled mint. It’s also slightly more complex because it includes a dash of bitters.

5 mint leaves

2 ounces Plymouth gin

¾ ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

1 dash Angostura bitters

Garnish: 1 mint leaf

In a shaker, gently muddle the mint. Add the remaining ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with the mint leaf.

Boukman Daiquiri

ALEX DAY, 2014

The Daiquiri template is so simple that riffing on it is easy. One of our favorite starting points is to introduce another rum or spirit as part of the core. Here, we replace a bit of the rum with rich, smooth Cognac, then bolster the aged character of the Cognac with a spiced syrup. When choosing the citrus for this drink, it could be tempting to use lemon juice because it would complement the Cognac and cinnamon so well. The result would be a decent drink, but lime juice cuts through the cinnamon and Cognac and imparts an unexpected astringency, keeping the drink bright and refreshing.

1½ ounces Flor de Cana 4-year white rum

½ ounce Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac

¾ ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce Cinnamon Syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish.

Jack Rose

CLASSIC

Grenadine, made from pomegranate juice and spiked with orange oil, has a flavor that’s both juicy and tangy, a character that highlights the apple brandy in this classic cocktail. Lime juice provides a counterpoint to the grenadine’s richness, cutting through the deep sweetness of the syrup.

1½ ounces Laird’s 100-proof straight apple brandy

½ ounce Clear Creek 2-year apple brandy

¾ ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce House Grenadine (this page)

Garnish: 1 apple slice

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with the apple slice.

Bee’s Knees

CLASSIC

The Boukman Daiquiri (this page) highlights an interesting way to play with the sour template: by substituting a flavorful syrup for the simple syrup. A good rule of thumb for matching flavorful syrups with citrus is that lemon juice has a soft acidity that doesn’t distract from honey, whereas lime juice brings an astringency that can cut through a dense syrup or heighten the flavors in a syrup. If honey were paired with lime juice in this classic cocktail, its flavor would disappear into the background.

2 ounces London dry gin

¾ ounce fresh lemon juice

¾ ounce Honey Syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish.

Pink Lady

CLASSIC

You can think of this classic cocktail as a mash-up between the Bee’s Knees (see this page) and the Jack Rose (this page). Gin and a bit of apple brandy make up the core and are enhanced by juicy-tart grenadine. Lime juice would overpower the gin, whereas lemon acts as a soft bridge between the gin, brandy, and grenadine. The Pink Lady is also a good lesson in restraint; if it simply used a full ¾ ounce of grenadine in place of the simple syrup in the basic sour template, the cocktail would be all about the grenadine; instead, it calls for just ½ ounce of grenadine and supplements it with simple syrup. Why only ½ ounce of lemon juice? Grenadine also has some acidity, and combined with the drying effect of egg white, a full ¾ ounce of lemon juice would create a tongue-strippingly dry cocktail.

1½ ounces Plymouth gin

½ ounce Laird’s 100-proof straight apple brandy

½ ounce fresh lemon juice

½ ounce House Grenadine (this page)

½ ounce simple syrup (this page)

1 egg white

Garnish: 1 brandied cherry on a skewer

Dry shake all the ingredients, then shake again with ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with the cherry.

Whiskey Sour

CLASSIC

In many cases, pairing an aged spirit like bourbon with lime juice yields results that are less than pleasant. Trying making a Basic Sour (this page) with whiskey and lime juice, and you’ll see what we mean: the same properties that make bourbon so tasty—vanilla, spice, tannins—don’t play well with the high acidity, astringency, and flavor of lime juice. That’s why recipes for cocktails like the classic Whiskey Sour generally call for lemon juice rather than lime.

2 ounces Elijah Craig Small Batch bourbon

¾ ounce fresh lemon juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Garnish: 1 lemon wedge

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a double Old-Fashioned glass over 1 large ice cube. Garnish with the lemon wedge.

Cat Video

NATASHA DAVID, 2015

In this riff on the Pisco Sour (this page), singani and Crème Yvette sit on opposite ends of pisco’s aromatic flavor profile, a dynamic tension that elevates the grape-based pisco. Singani, another grape-based spirit, pulls out pisco’s deep earthy notes, while Crème Yvette plays off the floral qualities of Kappa pisco.

1½ ounces Kappa pisco

1 teaspoon Crème Yvette

½ ounce Singani 63

½ ounce fresh lemon juice

½ ounce fresh lime juice

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

1 egg white

Garnish: 1 lemon twist and 1 edible flower

Dry shake all the ingredients without ice, then shake again with ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Express the lemon twist over the top of the drink and discard, then garnish with the edible flower.

Smoke and Mirrors

ALEX DAY, 2010

In this cocktail, as in the Kentucky Maid (this page), a bit of highly herbaceous mint helps bridge the gap between seemingly mismatched aged spirits and lime juice—a function also served by the absinthe in this recipe. Note that this cocktail and the Smokescreen (this page) have exactly the same ingredients with the exception of the accent—absinthe in this case and Chartreuse in the Smokescreen. Even though only small amounts of these two accents are used, the end result is two very different flavor profiles, showing how something simple and seemingly minor can make a world of difference in a cocktail’s flavor.

4 mint leaves

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

1 ounce Famous Grouse scotch

½ ounce Laphroaig 10-year scotch

¾ ounce fresh lime juice

2 dashes Pernod absinthe

Garnish: 1 mint sprig

In a shaker, gently muddle the mint with the simple syrup. Add the remaining ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a double Old-Fashioned glass over 1 large ice cube. Garnish with the mint sprig.

Pompadour

TYSON BUHLER, 2015

The Pompadour explores another way to riff on a Basic Sour: by incorporating a low-ABV ingredient as part of a split base, in this case, the French aperitif Pineau des Charentes. As you can see, the volume of the Pineau des Charentes is higher than if a boozy spirit were swapped into the split base. The Pompadour strikes a great balance between the power of rhum agricole, the juiciness of the Pineau des Charentes, and the sweet roundness of vanilla.

1½ ounces Rhum JM VSOP

1½ ounces Pasquet Pineau des Charentes

¾ ounce fresh lemon juice

½ ounce Vanilla Lactic Syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish.

Smokescreen

ALEX DAY, 2010

The Smokescreen follows the same model as the Smoke and Mirrors (this page), but gets its herbaceousness from green Chartreuse instead of absinthe. Whereas the absinthe gives the Smoke and Mirrors an anise undertone that contrasts with the smoky scotch, the Chartreuse gives the Smokescreen a savory quality thanks to its grassy, tarragon-like flavor, which draws out the Laphroaig scotch’s vegetal side.

4 mint leaves

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

1 ounce Famous Grouse scotch

½ ounce Laphroaig 10-year scotch

¼ ounce green Chartreuse

¾ ounce fresh lime juice

Garnish: 1 mint sprig

In a shaker, gently muddle the mint with the simple syrup. Add the remaining ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a double Old-Fashioned glass over 1 large ice cube. Garnish with the mint sprig.

Kentucky Maid

SAMUEL ROSS, 2005

Despite the conventional wisdom that lemon juice is a better partner for aged spirits than lime juice, well-chosen ingredients can be used to bridge these kinds of conflicting elements, leading to delicious and surprising combinations. One of our favorite examples of this is the Kentucky Maid, concocted by the legendary barman Sam Ross. Here, bourbon and lime are bridged by muddled cucumber and mint, resulting in an unexpectedly refreshing cocktail. The cucumber adds juiciness similar to how lemon would, and the mint provides herbaceous seasoning. Without question, the Kentucky Maid is our go-to “welcome to bourbon” cocktail—we haven’t met anyone who doesn’t like it.

5 mint leaves

3 slices cucumber

¾ ounce simple syrup (this page)

2 ounces Elijah Craig Small Batch bourbon

1 ounce fresh lime juice

Garnish: 1 mint sprig skewered through 1 cucumber wheel

Put the mint in a shaker and top with the cucumbers. Add the simple syrup and muddle, making sure to break up the cucumber skins. Add the bourbon and lime juice and shake with ice. Strain into a double Old-Fashioned glass over 1 large ice cube. Garnish with the mint sprig skewered through a cucumber wheel.

High Five

ALEX DAY, 2010

Riffing on the Hemingway Daiquiri (this page) is a great way to create new cocktails that are both exciting and refreshing. In the High Five, we use a very similar formula but substitute gin as the core. We also use Aperol to amplify the bitterness of the grapefruit, and because Aperol isn’t as sweet as the maraschino liqueur in the Hemingway Daiquiri, we add a bit more simple syrup.

1½ ounces Beefeater gin

½ ounce Aperol

1 ounce fresh grapefruit juice

½ ounce fresh lime juice

½ ounce simple syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a high five—seriously!

Brown Derby

CLASSIC

When paired with robust aged spirits, grapefruit juice acts differently than it does when combined with lighter liquors. Whereas spirits like rum and gin enhance the refreshing flavor of grapefruit, aged spirits tend to draw out some of the denser flavors and sweetness in the juice. Though the classic recipe for a Brown Derby doesn’t call for any citrus beyond the grapefruit juice, we like to add just a bit of lemon juice to cut through some of the richness of the syrup, which might otherwise overshadow the brightness of the grapefruit juice.

2 ounces Elijah Craig Small Batch bourbon

1 ounce fresh grapefruit juice

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

½ ounce Honey Syrup (this page)

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish.