Hemingway, Daiquiris and Me

It’s summertime, and the living isn’t always so easy.  There are weddings, graduations, picnics, family reunions, and holidays.  To best negotiate these treacherous waters, one often needs an adult beverage or two.  Ernest Hemingway may have had this is mind when he said “I drink to make other people more interesting.  [There are some who attribute the quote to George Jean Nathan, but there is no doubt Hemingway said “An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.”]  While I never sanction drunkenness, public or otherwise, and advocate moderation in all things culinary and alcoholic, a sophisticated cocktail or two is not such a bad thing to help one get through a summertime ordeal.

Papa Hemingway knew a thing or two about cocktails and a lot about surviving the summer heat.  So when I read about one of his go-to drinks from La Florida Bar in Havana, Cuba, the temptation was irresistible.  While there seems to be some confusion about the origins of the “Hemingway Daiquiri,” this much is agreed.  It originated at La Florida Bar in the 1930s; it is not the same as a “Papa Doble,” the name given to Hemingway’s version of La Florida’s standard daiquiri that resulted from his tasting the standard and saying he did not like sugar and it needed more rum; and the version below evolved over several years, as is evident from comparing the 1935 and 1939 editions of the La Florida Cocktail Book. 

Hemingway’s affection for this cocktail makes sense.  It is adventuresome, bold, straightforward, refreshing, and easy to quaff.  And while not for the faint of heart, it is just perfect for the long, hot days of summer we have here in the Coachella Valley.  So make a Hemingway Daiquiri, grab a copy of A Moveable Feast or The Sun Also Rises, and enjoy a summer’s afternoon in the pool or under an umbrella.  As Hemingway so aptly said:  “Drinking is a way of ending the day.”