Cuba is still calling to me, almost a week after I left and the cure is this Hemingway Daiquiri Cocktail Recipe.
Perhaps because I’m up to my eyeballs in photos, perhaps because it’s one of the more nuanced places I’ve visited, perhaps because the food and drinks have stuck with me.
Like say, the Daiquiri, I thought I had the Daiquiri figured out as an umbrella-clad cruise ship-going libation until I landed in Havana and had a Hemingway Daiquiri in Papa’s place of choice, the El Floridita bar.Â
I won’t bore you with the nuances of the Hemingway Daiquiri — how it’s unclear which rendition was Hemingway’s preferred style and which the El Floridita concoction was. Instead, I thought it better to make my own than attempt to dissect the drink’s already murky history.
So, here it is The Hemingway Daiquiri Cocktail recipe with grapefruit and maraschino liqueur (like The Hemingway), which, if you haven’t had it, makes it a more mature version of the classic. Yes, it’s blended – as a shout-out to how they serve it at El Floridita – but it’s more of a slush situation than Slurpee. I’m hoping we can make this frozen Daiquiri our mission: it does its part to give another definition to the Daiquiri and it’s a delicious way to toast my travels on the island.
Okay, that’s it! Go stock up on all your bar essentials then head into the kitchen, make this, and share it with us by tagging @saltandwind and #swsociety on social!


The Hemingway Daiquiri Cocktail Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 ounces white rum
- 3/4 ounce agave syrup or simple syrup
- 1/2 ounce freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice
- 1/2 ounce Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
- 1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 cup Crushed ice
- Lime slices for garnish
Instructions
- Fill a cocktail glass with a few cubes of ice and water and set it aside to chill. Combine rum, grapefruit juice, Maraschino liqueur, lime juice, agave or simple syrup, and crushed ice in a blender and process until ice is broken up and the mixture is slushy.
- Throw out ice water, fill with daiquiri mixture, garnish with lime slices, and serve.