The History of The Daiquiri

Origin & Evolution

The origin of a Daiquiri is unclear, but there are three revolving theories that originate from the same man, Jennings Stockton Cox. The first is the theory that originates around Jennings Cox of Baltimore working in Daiquiri, Cuba, just  following the Spanish-American War in 1898. The theory states Jennings Cox crafted the first Daiquiri for his workers to protect them from yellow fever. Both lime and alcohol were considered to protect the body from deadly disease so the addition of Cuba’s number one spirit comes naturally. The second theory states that Cox was in the mountain town of Daiquiri, Cuba on the eastern shore. He was entertaining a large party and ran out of Gin, so he began to use the local Bacardi Carta Blanca rum. Thinking the rum was too harsh for most of his guests he added the sugar and lime, to ease their palates. The third theory includes Jennings Cox, but not as the sole creator. Basil Woon, author of When It’s Cocktail Time in Cuba, wrote about some American engineers drinking this cocktail at the same bar at 8 on the dot, every morning. Jennings Cox, being their supervisor, decided the drink deserved a name and decided to name it after the closest town, Daiquiri.

It’s hard to know which theory is correct or even if Jennings is entirely responsible for the concoction. The addition of lime to rum has been around in the mid 1700’s when British Vice Admiral Edward “Old Grogam” Vernon created a cocktail to fight off scurvy for his sailors. He would later name this cocktail, "Grog" which is still a popular drink among rum enthusiasts. Admiral Lucius W. Johnson of the U.S. Navy was touring the mountain city and soon ran into Cox. He shared the recipe and sent him back to the states with rum and inspiration. He liked it so much that he brought the drink to Army and Navy Club, a bar in Washington D.C. The bar would later be named The Daiquiri Lounge due to the popularity of that cocktail. It’s a good thing P.D. Pagliuchi stopped Cox from naming the cocktail Tum Sour, after the Whiskey Sour.

JENNING’S COX ORIGINAL RECIPE

Serves 6 people

· 6 Lemons

· 6 tsp./30 ml Sugar

· 6 c./1.4 l of Bacardi Rum

· 2 c./.5 l of Mineral Water

· Crushed Ice

Evolution

The daiquiri was originally made in a tall glass with cracked ice. One teaspoon of sugar was added to the top of the ice, followed by the squeeze of one to two limes, then topped with two to three ounces of white rum. The drink was stirred or swizzled with a long skinny spoon until the glass was frosted and the mixture was dissolved. Later the drink evolved into being build in a shaker with shaved ice and served in a chilled coupe. The drinks popularity rose in the early 1940’s, when the rationing of whiskey and vodka was low. Due to President Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy, the exchange of rum was easy to come by. All rum based drinks rose in popularity around this time, such as the Mojito and Cuba Libre.

It was the literary influences by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway which helped the Daiquiri step into the limelight. Fitzgerald first wrote about the cocktail in his 1920 book This Side Of Paradise. Hemingway drank daiquiris so much that he had his own variation of it called the Hemingway Daiquiri or Papa Doble. Due to his Diabetes he was unable to have the sugar regularly. He substituted it for grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur.

It wasn’t until 1938 when Fred Waring introduced a machine to alleviate the process and labor on the cocktail. It was what we refer to as a blender nowadays, but with not as many alterations. It would crush the ice fast, while mixing it up, essentially giving the bartender enough time to construct a whole different cocktail in the meantime. Unfortunately, the Daiquiri would remain in its frozen cocktail tomb until the boom of the 1900s. The nineties brought on a whole new era of cocktails with fresh squeezed juices and infused spirits. This brought on many different variations of the Daiquiri, which sparked the rise in its popularity. The simple “3 ingredients” cocktail began to rise again as bartenders began to respect the identity of a Daiquiri.