Classic Daiquiri
No, not the frozen kind. Don’t be trash.
Servings: 1
Ingredients:
2 oz. light rum
1 oz. fresh lime juice
3/4 oz. Demerara sugar syrup (see notes below)
Lime twist for garnish
Fill a cocktail shaker with rum, lime juice, and sugar syrup. Add ice and shake until very cold.
Strain with a fine mesh strainer into a small cocktail glass (coupe). Garnish with a twist of lime.
Notes:
This is not your Caribbean vacation frozen daiquiri. This is an old school, classic daiquiri, served up, the likes of which you will find on a nice restaurant menu and/or your city’s most popular craft cocktail joints and “speakeasies.” Prohibition is long gone, but speakeasies are not…
When done properly (sometimes the most simple things are the easiest to screw up), there is nothing quite like a great daiquiri. Lightly sweet and sour - it’s the perfect cocktail in our opinion. And always served in a small, stylish coupe which means your drink never gets warm and you feel like an Old Hollywood star for about 5 minutes, until you order a second.
*Rum: our light rum recommendation is below, but if you have a standard light rum, like Bacardi Silver, on your bar, use it!
*Lime: squeeze the lime juice with a hand juicer or your hands. The oils in the rind produced from these methods adds more depth of flavor.
*Demerara Sugar Syrup: we all know what simple syrup is (sugar and water), but did you know there are varieties of simple syrups because there are a variety of sugars?
Unlike your standard simple syrup, which is granulated white sugar and water, Demerara syrup uses, you guessed it, Demerara sugar - which is pretty much just sugar in the raw. It’s caramel in color and coarse, and produces a rich, toffee flavor syrup vs. a “flavorless” sweet simple syrup.
If you don’t have or can’t find “Demerara Sugar” you can also utilize Turbinado cane sugar or sugar in the raw.
To make:
Add equal parts sugar and water (we used 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water because we wanted extra to store for other cocktails) to a sauce pan, and warm over medium heat, whisking consistently until sugar is dissolved. Do not bring to a boil or simmer - you don’t want any caramelization.
Once cool, store in an airtight container (link to air tight bottles we use below) in the refrigerator. Can be stored in the fridge up to one month. *Tip: adding a tbsp. of vodka per cup of simple syrup will help prolong the storage time.
Occasions:
Cocktail Parties, Happy Hour @ home
GoodCooking’s Picks:
Favorite Light Rum: Plantation 3 Stars
Tools:
