Name: Hemingway Special Daiquiri (Papa Doble)
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 105 ml Light gold rum 1-3yo; 30 ml Pink grapefruit juice; 22.5 ml Maraschino liqueur; 30 ml Lime juice; 15 ml Sugar syrup (2:1)

Hemingway Special Daiquiri (Papa Doble)
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Hemingway Special Daiquiri (Papa Doble) image

Serve in a Martini (large 10oz) glass

Ingredients:
3 ¹⁄₂ oz	Light gold rum (1-3 year old molasses column)
1 oz	Pink grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed)
³⁄₄ oz	Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
1 oz	Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
¹⁄₂ oz	Monin Pure Cane Syrup (65.0°brix, equivalent to 2:1 rich syrup)

Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

Select and pre-chill a Martini (large 10oz) glass.
Prepare garnish of Luxardo Maraschino Cherry &/or lime wedge/wheel.
SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

More cocktails with similar strength and taste profile

Hemingway Special Daiquiri (Papa Doble) lifestyle thumbnail

Review:

This drink is also known as a Papa Doble for good reason, it's twice the size of a regular cocktail. Hence the above recipe will fill one oversize Martini or two regular coupe glasses.

If you've a bone dry palate and would like to sample a true Hemingway Special without the addition of sugar then try the following authentic recipe given to me by Alejandro Bolívar Rodriguez, Head Bartender at El Floridita, Havana, Cuba where this cocktail is blended and not shaken. Indeed, blending rather than shaking Daiquiris is the default at El Floridita.

Daiquiri Hemingway (El Floridita's recipe)
Glass: Hurricane
Garnish: Straw
Method: BLEND all ingredients with crushed ice for five seconds.
90ml (3oz) Light Cuban rum
5ml (1 spoon) Maraschino liqueur
30ml (1oz) Grapefruit juice
15ml (½oz) Lime juice

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AKA: Papa Doble Daiquiri

History:

Created by Constantino (Constante) Ribalaigua Vert, the legendary head bartender of El Floridita, Havana, Cuba for Ernest Hemingway, after the great man wandered into the bar to use the toilet. When Hemingway tried the Floridita's standard frozen Daiquiri, he is quoted as saying, "That's good but I prefer it without sugar and with double rum" - so the Hemingway Special was born.

Hemingway suffered from haemochromatosis (a rare hereditary disease that can lead to diabetes) from which his father also suffered, hence his aversion to sugar. The original version was exactly as Hemingway requested a Daiquiri without sugar and heavy on the rum, basically, rum shaken with a splash of lime juice.

Years later after he took over the position of Head Bartender at El Floridita, Antonio Meilan added maraschino and grapefruit juice into the drink. Today sugar is commonly also added to balance this drink and make it more palatable to people with less sour palates than Hemingway.

Hemingway was affectionately known as 'Papa' in Cuba and this drink was originally named 'Daiquiri Like Papa' and then later 'Papa Doble'. After Meilan added maraschino and grapefruit the drink changed its name again to the Hemingway Special we recognise today.

Daiquiri cocktail history

More cocktails by Constantino "Constante" Ribalaïgua Vert

Nutrition:

One serving of Hemingway Special Daiquiri (Papa Doble) contains 346 calories

Alcohol content:

2.6 standard drinks
17.86% alc./vol. (17.86° proof)
36.2 grams of pure alcohol

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Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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Showing 10 of 18 comments for Hemingway Special Daiquiri (Papa Doble).
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John CARR

7th April 2024 at 12:30

My grapefruit was definitely on the mild side, so omitted the sugar altogether and was happy with the balance. My palate i would say is sweet-leaning. Loved the Luxardo depth and roundness here. Split the rum between plantation 3 star and Havana 3. Delicious!

John CARR

8th April 2024 at 11:29

Remade to the exact recipe- with better grapefruit- excellent! Generous hunk of lime to garnish brought out the lime-rum sugar magic x.

Jock G

30th March 2024 at 22:44

Iets minder zoet volgende keer. Erg stevig

Steven Cook

4th January 2024 at 22:54

Great cocktail even made with cheap white rum as I have no Havana Club 3 or Plantation 3 at the moment. Probably needs less sugar if you're using pink or red grapefruit.

John Hinojos

17th August 2023 at 00:16

Made this again with Barbados rum. Outstanding also as rum is Barbados is not adulterated with sugar before bottling. Makes the cocktail a bit drier, but without the Jamaican funk that I added the first time. Both are great.

John Hinojos

17th August 2023 at 00:21

Since we were using smaller glasses. We added 4 drops of Bob's Difford's Daiquiri Bitters to the second part. This this cocktail to a next level. Adds some depth of flavour and complexity.

Aidan Spurrill

13th June 2023 at 08:34

Just got my first ever bottle of Luxardo Maraschino and I could think of no better cocktail to crack it open for than this.
Strong and rummy with citrus and cherry. Perfect for sipping on a hot June evening.

Tuber Magnatum

13th January 2023 at 23:29

An excellent cocktail! For those of you like me who may not have Hemingways EtOh tolerance, scaling this drink to 2/3 (works out nicely using ml and the Easy Jigger!) creates a smaller drink that doesn't require a large coupe glass. (Full disclosure: I used "rich" gomme syrup instead of "rich" simple syrup which for me created a nice mouth feel. I also used 2 drops 20% saline solution, but not sure I would do so again.

Simon Sedgley

10th January at 14:35

Good call on the ratios. What host wants to be legless before the prawns have even made it onto the BBQ?

Miguel Perales

6th November 2022 at 22:44

What a delightful cocktail. Since I don't have "Cuban" rum, I used the home-made Black Tail bar "Cuban" rum blend recipe ( supposedly mimics Cuban Rum). It was absolutely wonderful. Nicely balanced and remarkably smooth.

Garret Brough

24th August 2022 at 16:33

I almost made this as a shaken cocktail until I reread the recipe and saw a blender was involved.

Simon Difford

24th August 2022 at 17:40

I make as a shaken cocktail and main recipe above is shaken. Blended version is El Floridita’s.

Laurent Lagadic

4th August 2022 at 17:50

Hey Difford’s Guys, nothing to do with this mix (one of my favorites’ though): love the new layout of your website. Quite trendy and very professional, as always. Keep going.

Simon Difford

4th August 2022 at 18:48

Many thanks for your kind words. We've still a little polishing still to do then we'll be adding some more new features still under development. Like the recipes, it's a constant work in progress.

Alasdair MacDonald

7th March 2022 at 18:14

Cuban Rum, no sugar. Fab.

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