Hemingway Daiquiri

This post is written by Peggy Abood, sister of Maureen! She is one of the world’s great Hemingway devotees. The Hemingway Daquiri is so refreshing, using fresh-squeezed citrus. Blitz all of the ingredients with lots of ice to go for a frozen Hemingway Daquiri.

I know when the love affair started. I wasn’t looking for it, it just happened as these things often do. It was a rainy, damp evening in South Bend (no doubt smelly too, with the nearby ethanol factory pumping away) and my study break that evening was to wander the stacks of the Cushwa-Leighton library. I was looking for any distraction to keep me from returning to the chemistry that awaited me at my desk (“kiddie chem” for lit majors like me).

I happened upon an entire aisle of Ernest Hemingway. Books I’d never heard of (poetry? He wrote poems?) and a book of short stories containing his first published work entitled Up in Michigan. I read it standing there in the stacks, mesmerized by the concise language and striped down style, set in my home state.

That encounter would lead me on a journey to read everything Hemingway had ever written, and much of what had been written about him, while I was at college. Much to my family’s chagrin, I couldn’t contain a nonstop commentary about the man, his life events and his time in Northern Michigan.

This has led one brother (you know who you are) to start asking me at random times: “What would Hemingway say about that, Peg?” His tone told me all I needed to know. I had no idea I’d become insufferable: part of being 20 is that you don’t have to know, but in my family, there’s always someone on hand to share those sorts insights.

Which leads us, of course, to what is known as the Hemingway Daiquiri. Legend has it that Hemingway first tasted daiquiris at a bar in Havana. No idea if it’s true. But we know Hemingway’s drinking was as prolific as his writing. Here is the drink that connects me to my literary hero, so I drink one whenever I see it on a menu and make them at home.

A typical daiquiri is made with white label rum, lime and grapefruit juice. It is said that Hemingway was a diabetic, so the drink subs out simple syrup for maraschino cherry liqueur. Use fresh squeezed juices for great fresh flavor. Consider investing in a bottle of the woven rattan covered Luxardo brand liqueur for its great good looks. I promise we’ll find other uses for it and you may enjoy this cocktail so much that the bottle will be put to good use.

And yes, I still love Hemingway (I’ve sat on his old counter stool at Jesperson’s diner in Petoskey, had drinks in his favorite Left Bank cafes), but I’ve learned to zip it, and keep most of that to myself!

Thanks all,

Peggy

Hemingway Daiquiri

Peggy Abood

The daiquiri can be served as described in the recipe, or on the rocks in a short rocks glass. Make a frozen daiquiri by blitzing all of the ingredients with lots of ice in the blender.

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Servings 1

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 ounce white rum
• 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1/2 ounce fresh pink grapefruit juice
• 1/2 ounce Luxardo maraschino liqueur
• 1 lime wheel, for garnish

Instructions

 

• In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add all of the ingredients except the lime wheel. Shake very, very well (and then a little longer). Strain into a chilled coupe glass, garnish with a lime wheel that's been cut to fit the wheel over the rim of the glass, and serve immediately.