I can’t believe this is week 8 of our summer cocktail series.  The only good thing about 8 weeks of summer being gone is that we’ve drank some damn fine cocktails along the way, if I do say so myself.  Click on the Cocktails category to catch up with the summer fun!

I am not the first person to write about these drinks.  I initially read about La Floridita daiquiris (or El Floridita, depending on the source) in my most favorite cocktail book, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails.  There are also dozens upon dozens of blog posts and articles about the daiquiris, including the daiquiri Hemingway used to drink (yes, Hemingway again…).  But, oddly, all that nice coverage doesn’t seem to be translating to cocktail menus.

In all the bars I’ve gone to I’ve never noticed a classic daiquiri on the menu.  The closest I’ve seen are plain lime daiquiris and their fruity cousins at poolside bars, Trader Vic’s, and frozen drink dispensers on Bourbon St and in Vegas.  There’s no doubt that I don’t get out to the high class joints often enough, but it seems that bars favoring classic cocktails tend to be short on rum drinks.  More than that, they also tend to run away from blended drinks.  (I know from personal experience that most bartenders hate blenders — at one bar I worked at all the bartenders unanimously agreed that the blender was “broken” for years.)

So, up until today, I’d never had the real deal.  And guess what?  It’s no wonder it’s been made into so many variations.  The original daiquiris are wonderful.

Let’s refocus our collective association of the daiquiri away from the interior of Circus Circus and toward the streets of Old Havana (which I’ve never seen in person).  All photos taken in 2010.  Images courtesy of the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

A few things before we get going.  According to my dear cocktail book, in 1939 La Floridita wrote down the recipes for four daiquiris creatively named #1, #2, #3 and #4.  All of them were served on ice — not blended.  Following the four recipes there was a fifth variation called the “E. Henminway [sic] Special,” a blended version of daiquiri #3.  Vintage Spirits just shares the recipe for #4, but I found a recipe for #3 that seems about right (many others used more lime or dropped the maraschino liqueur).  So, let’s make #4 and then the E. Henminway Special.

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Welcome to week 6 of our summer cocktail series.  To see what we’ve been drinking so far this summer, click on the Cocktails category.

I know, I know.  I was supposed to post a couple photos from our hiking/camping trip.  But, I didn’t.  I’ve done nothing this week except fret about school and eat 70 pizzas.  I’m starting to wonder about the weight limitations on my desk chair.  Thankfully, I’m about to wrap up a big project and the very second I do — no matter the time of day! — I’ll be making myself a big pitcher of this amazing lemonade.  I CAN’T WAIT.

Assuming you’re not desperately finishing up a project and then celebrating with bourbon (irrespective of the time of day), I’m thinking this drink would be perfect for a sunny late afternoon in the backyard, or maybe around a fire pit at night.  It would also be an awesome accompaniment to some BBQ (and now I’m thinking about BBQ tempeh burgers again…oh, and did you see  Alex’s faux pulled pork sliders in GOOD magazine?  I love his use of grated tofu — I would have never thought of that!).  Whatever your weekend plans are, though, be sure to work this drink into them.   Blackberries, bourbon and lemonade are guaranteed to make your weekend that much better — especially when combined!

Before we go, here’s a really close-up shot of a blackberry.  I washed them afterward.  Really well.

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We’re on to week 5 of our summer cocktail series (how is summer moving so quickly?!).  To catch up on past recipes, click on the Cocktails category.  For new recipes, swing by on Fridays.

I had two different recipes (I mean, food recipes) that I wanted to share with you this week.  But, somehow the week slipped through my fingers.  I didn’t do much cooking, mostly because Alex and I went on a little hiking/camping trip and because, on our return, I felt so guilty about abandoning work that I didn’t leave my computer for 3 days.  I’ll tell you more about the hiking/camping in our next post.  In this post, I want to send sympathy waves out to the people who are melting on the East coast in 100+ degree temps.  Today’s frozen cocktail is dedicated to you.

There are a couple ways you can make this slushy and I opted for the fastest way, since I thought everyone would just want to have an icy, cold drink in hand as soon as possible.  We’ll make the drink in a blender.  An alternative is to add a cup of water into the mix and then freeze it in a bowl in your freezer (similarly to how the sorbet is frozen in this post) or in your ice cream maker.  If you don’t have a blender or you want a little more intensely flavored drink, you can go that route. Continue reading →

Welcome to week 4 of our summer cocktail series. To see past recipes, click on the Cocktails category.

Most discussions of the Tom Collins start off with a description of the drink’s history.  It’s been around since the 1870s and is often confused with a similar drink called the Gin Fizz, so the back story is interesting.  But, I’m not going to talk about that (read this if you’re interested).  Instead, I’m going to tell you that, over a summer when I was about 16, I learned that I liked a Tom Collins.

At the time, I thought that a pre-made bottle of Collins mix was necessary to make the drink.  The mix was crazy sweet and chemically, but I was 16 and had dubious taste.  It was the mid-nineties and overly sweet cocktails (__-tinis, as most of them were called) were all the rage.  Thankfully, that sort of thing has mostly fallen out of vogue (that horrid Collins mix might have had a role in ending the trend).  Since that fateful summer, I have never again personally witnessed anyone order or drink a Tom Collins.

Fast forward to my 30s.  I was sipping on a gin and fizzy lemonade and started reminiscing about my summer of Tom Collinses (can they be pluralized?).  I had no idea what was in one.  So, I looked it up.  I was stunned to find I was pretty much drinking one at that very moment.  The only thing I was missing was the characteristic garnish of a maraschino cherry and an orange slice. Continue reading →

This is week 3 of our summer cocktail series.  Check in every Friday for a fresh, light and easy summer drink.  To see our past recipes, check out the Cocktails category.

I think sangria might be one of my favorite drinks ever.  Still, I don’t make it at home nearly enough and I rarely order it when I’m out (because it always seems overly expensive).  Finally, today, after going to a restaurant last night that was serving sangria for $9 a glass, I decided to make a whole, gorgeous pitcher for a grand total of $12.  (Note: this was not good for my productivity for the day.)

This sangria is a nice and light summer version.  Rosé keeps the fruit bright and has a much softer flavor, which lets milder fruits shine through.  I used a more minerally French rose because I thought it would match nicely with the cumber.  If you use a Spanish or California rosé, the sangria will likely have have a slightly sweeter, fruity flavor (which is yummy, too!  but I like a crisp rose with the cucumber).

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