History

This, the flagship cocktail of Havana's famous Hotel Nacional de Cuba and Casino Nacional, was created around the time of the hotel's 1930 opening. The hotel's elegant opulence was a magnet to the style set and celebrities, including Ava Gardner and Nat King Cole, as well as mobsters such as "Lucky" Luciano.

Such a hotel opening off the US coast during the height of Prohibition attracted some of America's greatest bartenders, including Will (or Wil) P. Taylor, Eddie Woelke and Fred Kaufman. All three of these have been credited with creating the Hotel Nacional Special, and perhaps they all contributed. However, Charles H. Baker's 1939 The Gentleman's Companion, credits Wil P. Taylor, manager at the Hotel Nacional from 1931 to 1933, describing the cocktail as "one of the three finest Bacardi drinks known to science."

The "National" is the first and very much the lead entry in the "Cuban Concoctions" amendment of Albert Stevens Crockett's 1935 Old Waldorf Astoria Book. This and the "other Havana recipes" that follow were contributed by "Will P. Taylor, manager of the Hotel National in Havana."

NATIONAL
Equal parts of Bacardi and Pineapple Juice
Squeeze of Lemon
Dash of Apricot Brandy
Ice; shake; strain

Albert Stevens Crockett, Old Waldorf Astoria Book, 1935

ASTORIA
WIL P. TAYLOR'S HOTEL NACIONAL SPECIAL, which, along with the TROPICAL DAIQUIRI & the SANTIAGO de CUBA MINT
JULEP is ONE of the THREE FINEST BACARDI DRINKS KNOWN to SCIENCE.
Who, who knows his Havana, does not know, or has not heard of, Wil Taylor. We met him back in 1931 when in charge of World Cruise Publicity for Hamburg-American Line, and got into Havana one time in 1933 just after they had mighty near blasted a marvellous hotel off the map, to get at those Machado-phile officers hiding there. And Taylor kept right on managing just as if it had been old times!
. . . But that time with pineapples sounding off all night along the Prado, we elected to stick to the old downtown Plaza, what with wife and child, but that did not prevent our remembering with great pleasure Taylor's own Bacardi concoction. . . . It is "mighty lak" a Mary Pickford, but still not, as the latter omits her limes.

Carta de Oro Bacardi, 1 jigger
Lime, juice ½
Fresh pineapple juice, 1 jigger
Dry apricot brandy, 1 tsp

Shake with cracked ice, strain, serve in a tall cocktail glass with a stem. . . . We indicate Gold Label Bacardi for the simple reason that Carta Blanca is so delicate in flavour it barely comes through any rich drink.

Charles H. Baker, The Gentleman's Companion, 1939

In his own 1936 book, The Barman's Mentor, Eddie Woelke, another of the trio of bartending greats, claimed he was the originator of the "Nacional" cocktail with a recipe comprising half a jigger each of white rum and pineapple juice, plus two dashes of both apricot brandy and lime juice.