Sure, Labor Day is the symbolic end of summer… but really, it ain’t over yet and you owe it to yourself to wring out every last drop of summer fun. So there’s still time for warm weather cocktails to go along with your end-of-season cookouts and outdoor entertainments even if the days are getting noticeably shorter. One of the archetypal summer cocktails and certainly one of my favorites is the Hemingway Daiquiri.

As the well-worn legend has it, Papa Hemingway was famous for downing epic quantities of this brisk rum-based drink during his time in Cuba when he would hold court at the El Floridita Bar in Havana. If you want a double-sized version of the drink, which Hemingway usually did, it’s therefore called a Papa Doble.

There are, of course, variations to the recipe but in my opinion the best way to make this particular daiquiri is with simple syrup rather than sugar because then it’s easy to blend and you won’t have the problem of the undisssolved sugar collecting on the bottom of the glass or staying in your cocktail shaker and leaving the majority of the drink too bitter. Like all daiquiris this is a white rum-based cocktail, so leave the Mount Gay for another occasion. I prefer something of premium quality like 10 Cane or Cacao Prieto over plain old Bacardi because, after all, to make a really good drink you should use really good rum. And if you don’t have proper Mareschino liqueur handy, I feel that readily available Kirschwasser, another type of cherry-flavored clear brandy, is an acceptable substitute. Either way, the cherry eau de vie is what gives the Hemingway Daiquiri its slightly fiery and dry spine so don’t skip it. Lastly, I like to garnish with a brandied cherry rather than the traditional lime wedge. It sinks to the bottom and is a sweet and unctuous reward after finishing such a bracingly tart drink. But if you go the cherry route definitely don’t use off-the-rack, ultra-red, corn syrup-heavy “Maraschino cherries” that belong in a Shirley Temple but rather something like naturally preserved marasca cherries from Luxardo. Expensive but worth it!

Enough talk — here’s the MFL-approved recipe for the legendary Hemingway Daiquiri:

Ingredients:

• Ice
• 2 ounces white rum
• 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1/2 ounce fresh grapefruit juice
• 1 tsp Sugar or 1/4oz of simple syrup
• 1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur
• 1 lime wheel or brandied cherry for garnish (optional)

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the lime wheel/cherry and shake well. Strain into a chilled coupe or similar cocktail glass and garnish with the lime wheel or add cherry.

And if you don’t feel like making one yourself, two of my favorite places to order them are in Williamsburg, Brooklyn: OTB on Broadway between Bedford & Driggs and Walter Foods on Grand off of Roebling. The friendly bartenders there know what they’re doing and when you start to get hungry, the food is excellent at both establishments.

So drink up! Summer may almost be over but a good cocktail is forever.