A Most Misunderstood Drink: The Daiquiri

If you imagine a cocktail that’s the proverbial butt of the joke, it’s often the daiquiri. But this is a much maligned drink, and it’s actually a really delicious (and potent) cocktail. It’s only 3 ingredients, but the sum of the parts can be much greater than the whole.

Ingredients:
2 oz light or white rum
1 oz lime juice (use fresh-squeezed if you can)
1/2 oz simple syrup*

Directions:
Fill a cocktail glass with ice and water to chill. Fill a shaker with ice, then add the rum, lime juice, and simple syrup. Shake well. Empty the cocktail glass, then pour the drink into the cocktail glass through a strainer. That’s it!  I used this light-blue tinted glass because I like the color, but it’s a little large for a 4 oz drink.  Garnish with a tiny umbrella at your own risk!

Making Simple Syrup:
Don’t even think about buying simple syrup off the shelf. Making this versatile sweetner is just about the easiest thing to do! Place 2 parts sugar and 1 part water by volume (e.g. 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water) in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat, and let the liquid cool down. Once cool, pour into a container (squeeze bottles are great!). You can keep the syrup in the fridge in an air-tight container for up to a month.

Before Boiling

After Boiling

*As an experiment, I used 1/4 cup of water, and 1/2 cup of sugar, but I substituted about 1 tablespoon of raw sugar. It gave the syrup a subtle, more robust taste. Give it a try with just white sugar, and with a mix of sugars!