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. Continue reading →