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El Presidente
Rum and vermouth combine harmoniously in this delicate and subtly citrus-fresh cocktail. My (yours truly) El Presidente recipe combines elements of...
Rhet Turnbull
15th August at 14:56
El Presidente is made with blanc vermouth, not dry. The extra sweetness complements the small amount of grenadine and curaçao. Why fiddle with what is already a nearly perfect cocktail?
17th August at 10:35
With only bianco vermouth the Presidente needs a splash of lime [see “El Presidente (Sloppy Joes)” link above] or it is too sweet. However, I also see that with dry vermouth some find this too dry. Hence, in the spirit of compromise, I’ve moved to 50:50 of each vermouth and must admit that the cocktail is better for it.
30th May at 14:25
I used a split base of plantation 3 stars and Appleton 8 yrs, Cointreau because I don’t have curacao, and Dolin dry vermouth. Really nice. Wonderfully orange-flavoured, rum-forward, fresh and gentle. Perfect for a balmy spring day.
27th May at 20:51
I used home-made grenadine, and I'm not sure if it's as sweet as commercial one. In my case, it added some sweetness, but it respected the dryness of vermouth, which I loved. So I don't think I'll ever use white vermouth instead. My rum was St Teresa, nothing to write home about.
10th May at 03:09
Don't know about "the better class of Cuban," but we really enjoy it. A full oz of dry vermouth looked a bit much for a rum drink so I took a cue from Difford's earlier recipe and used a half oz each of dry and bianco, no rosso. Upped the rum to 1.75 oz to dry it out a bit in compensation for the bianco. An excellent herbal rum cocktail that isn't at all tiki but instead features your rum and vermouth choices. Not sure why the meager half teaspoon of grenadine is in there; its small additional sweetness is unnecessary with the bianco.
24th January at 23:55
This seems to be a drink which allows for personal taste and adaptation.
I used Bacardi 8yr and Gifford Grenadine Liqueur rather than syrup and it was beautiful and one I need to play with but not too much.
Really tasty
I used Bacardi 8yr and Gifford Grenadine Liqueur rather than syrup and it was beautiful and one I need to play with but not too much.
Really tasty
17th November 2024 at 01:28
Wonderful. Like all pre-prohibition Cuban cocktails you can taste the rum and it is not overly sweet. Used a Clement VSOP which gave a wonderful flavour.
I have over 25 different rums and love the subtle differences and taste you can experience from a first class rum.
I have over 25 different rums and love the subtle differences and taste you can experience from a first class rum.
20th April at 22:35
Would love to know some of your favourite rums for this cocktail. I have only used Havana Club 3 year old. While this works well, I would love to try something else potentially more interesting!
19th October 2024 at 22:33
Great! Exchanged the Grenadine for Cranberry. Is it allowed? :-) Really nice balance with a citric twist.
12th July 2024 at 01:15
I just remade this with Lillet Blanc in place of dry vermouth after watching Greg recommend it on his How To Drink YouTube channel, and it's a revelation how much better it makes this drink. I used Appleton Estate Signature, Pierre Ferrand curacao, and a homemade grenadine. A completely different experience from the one with dry vermouth, and much more to my personal tastes. I'll have to try the mixed-vermouth version next to see how it compares.
13th April 2024 at 00:59
This recipe is WAY too liqeuer forward and lacks body. I experimented and found that.
Without changing much I like:
-50ml Coffey Still Rum
-10ml Cointreau
-15ml Dry Vermouth
-2.5ml Homemade grenadine (1.5:1)
-1 Dash Ango.
If I was to make this my own, I would do:
-60ml Appleton Estate 12y
-15ml Lilet Blanc
-7.5ml Cointreau
-7.5ml homemade tonka cherry syrup
Without changing much I like:
-50ml Coffey Still Rum
-10ml Cointreau
-15ml Dry Vermouth
-2.5ml Homemade grenadine (1.5:1)
-1 Dash Ango.
If I was to make this my own, I would do:
-60ml Appleton Estate 12y
-15ml Lilet Blanc
-7.5ml Cointreau
-7.5ml homemade tonka cherry syrup
29th February 2024 at 16:21
I recently tried this with TCRL High Seas (a Panama-Jamaica-Martinique blend with light aging) and an amber vermouth (the M&R ambrato or Rockwell's native amber). Worked great and gives some of that feeling of blended vermouths without multiple bottles...
27th January 2024 at 00:35
This new version is a massive improvement on what was an already awesome cocktail. Wow
31st December 2023 at 03:17
Any reason for the new changes, Simon? Just curious about your opinion - was the blending of the various vermouths just overcomplicating? (As much as I enjoy using Cocchi Storico in mine)
31st December 2023 at 16:18
Trying old against new, I preferred the simplicity and flavour of my latest version.
28th December 2023 at 14:04
Hello Simon, it seems like the recipe has changed yet again. Could you please put in the previous recipe (the one with all 3 main kinds of vermouth)?
28th December 2023 at 16:57
Hi Chris. I've added my previous recipe above.
7th November 2023 at 08:06
An incredible all-timer of a cocktail. My personal spin prefers using 1 oz Plantation Grande Reserve, 1/2 oz Smith & Cross, 2/3 oz Cocchi Storico (and leave out the Bianco, having its ratio filled by the Cocchi Storico), and keeping the rest of the recipe list intact with the 2/3 oz Dolin Dry and 1/3 oz Curaçao, with grenadine and bitters to taste.
I find a homemade grenadine (with the proper hits of orange blossom water) really makes this punch above-weight as well.
I find a homemade grenadine (with the proper hits of orange blossom water) really makes this punch above-weight as well.
11th October 2023 at 22:54
Adapting from some other recipes I found online, I substituted 1/2 oz dry vermouth, 1/2 oz Cocchi Storico, 2 dashes Regan's orange bitters, and increased the (real) grenadine to 1/6 oz, and it was delicious!
17th April 2023 at 13:55
Is El Presidente a Cuban response for the Martinez or Manhattan? Bartenders talk about it many times
8th December 2022 at 21:53
How did you get your cocktail in the photo so red? With just 2.5ml of grenadine and 5ml of Cocchi - mine barely had a tinge of pink
19th April 2022 at 17:36
safe to say, El Presidente is my favourite cocktail ever made, and these specs solidified that. not really a fan of Martini's vermouths though, so i swapped those for Bramley & Gage, seeing as their distillery's fairly local to me
12th March 2022 at 07:10
Wow. Pretty much the perfect cocktail. With the bitters (and possibly grenadine depending on your sugar ratio) being able to be applied to taste it can be tailored to pre dinner, after dinner or for any other time.
Truly amazing.
Truly amazing.
20th October 2021 at 19:34
Wow, rum and vermouth, who would have thought. Didn't have any bianco (obviously my extensive drinks cabinet doesn't run as far as Mark Shah's:) so used a rather aged chardonnay, also orange bitters. Very nice complex drink with lovely orange overtones,
27th April 2021 at 18:54
5+ for me with a Doorly's 3 year, Noilly Prat Dry, La Quintenye Blanc and 1757 Rosso. Swapping the Noilly for a Dolin Dry took it down to a 4.5 - lost a lot of roundness.
I seem to remember getting an even better combo by splitting the base with something like 7.5ml of Eldorado 8, but I'll have to try it again to confirm.
I seem to remember getting an even better combo by splitting the base with something like 7.5ml of Eldorado 8, but I'll have to try it again to confirm.
9th March 2021 at 05:47
Would love to try a lighter rum, used a small batch aged rum. Orange twist highlight essential
9th March 2021 at 05:42
Seven ingredients...almost a Tiki drink in complexity. Lots of of aromatics between the vermouths and the orange flavors. Very nice.
9th March 2021 at 05:36
An excellent rendition of this drink, distinctly orange and I love the vermouth combination. I added a dash of orange bitters. Without gold rum I used 1 oz white rum and 1/2 oz black seal rum.
9th March 2021 at 01:01
Great aperitif cocktail. Perfect for an after 5 pick-up. We used Clemente Creole Shrub instead of the curacao. We have both, but I prefer the Creole Shrub with many rum drinks as it has the same base ingredient.
13th November 2020 at 01:05
I wanted to make this, but I wanted a simpler one, so I went with 1.5oz aged rum, 3/4oz bianco vermouth, 1/2oz orange liqueur (I didn't have curacao), barspoon of grenadine, but I also added orange bitters. That pushed it to the sweeter side, but it was nonetheless quite delicious. https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/6383/el-presidente
13th November 2020 at 01:02
There is another story about the name that suggests it was named after Cuban President Gerardo Machado y Morales, who offered it to visiting US President Coolidge, who didn't touch it as it was during the Prohibition era.
19th August 2020 at 00:36
Are there any information about the name? Why is it called El Presidente? :)
19th August 2020 at 06:54
Probably named after José Miguel Gómez who became President of Cuba in 1909 after the end of U.S. occupation.
7th August 2020 at 16:31
hey mr difford
manuel is a name.
manual is same word/meaning as manual in english. ie instructions book. so “manual del cantinero” is the right spelling.
if you care to correct ;)
manuel is a name.
manual is same word/meaning as manual in english. ie instructions book. so “manual del cantinero” is the right spelling.
if you care to correct ;)
13th November 2020 at 01:06
It still seems to say Manuel rather than Manual...
9th August 2020 at 08:29
Many thanks for pointing out. Now corrected.