Hemingway Daiquiri

The Hemingway Daiquiri, or simply “Hemingway,” is a modified take on the classic Daiquiri, consisting of rum, lime juice, maraschino liqueur, and grapefruit juice. 

Thought to have been created around the 1930s, it gained a huge following in recent years, as the craft cocktail renaissance saw bartenders unearthing and reviving a number of 19th and 20th century drinks. Among these, the Hemingway emerged as a clear favorite.

Believed to have been created around the 1930s at the legendary El Floridita bar in Havana, Cuba, the Hemingway Daiquiri has an interesting history. It’s not known whether Ernest Hemingway himself ever actually favored the grapefruit-based drink, or if El Floridita’s proprietor and bartender Constantino Ribalaigua Vert simply used his famous patron as inspiration for a drink that capitalized on the writer’s legend as an avid rum drinker, but was more suited to regular customers’ tastes. 

An oft-told story which seems to have emerged from Hemingway’s niece, Hilary Hemingway, states that her uncle wandered into the bar one day looking for a bathroom and decided to sample one of El Floridita’s famous Daiquiris. Known for his love of drinks, particularly of the boozier sort, Hemingway asked for a modified version that was lighter on sugar and heavier on the rum. Thus, the Papa Doble was born, which is simply a Daiquiri that doubles up on the rum and keeps the sugar minimal.

What became known as the Hemingway Daiquiri has a few extra modifications, notably grapefruit and maraschino liqueur.  It’s unknown if the writer actually preferred these ingredients, but the drink kept the spirit of his initial “less sugar” request. However, the modern Hemingway Daiquiri is infinitely more drinkable than the real Hemingway’s preferred Papa Doble of “double rum with lime and a dash of sugar.” 

What makes the Hemingway Daiquiri work

Rather than the cane sugar or simple syrup favored in a standard Daiquiri, maraschino liqueur is used as the primary sweetener in the Hemingway Daiquiri. The drink is fortified with a touch of grapefruit juice, which contributes its own natural sugars, but increases the drink’s tartness. Together, these ingredients create the illusion of less-sweet Daiquiri.

Notably, it’s only the perceptible sweetness that changes in a Hemingway Daiquiri, not the actual amount of sugar. One ounce of simple syrup contains around 12–13 grams of sugar. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur has about 9 grams of sugar per ounce, while an ounce of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice can typically contain around 3 grams of sugar. Though this means it may vary by a few grams, particularly depending on the specific specs you prefer for your cocktail, the volume of actual sugar is similar enough between both. 

What makes the Hemingway Daiquiri so delicious is that by varying the sources of these sugars, and increasing citric acid and tartness, the drink keeps its balance while managing to downplay the cloying sweetness one may taste more prominently with cane sugar. The result is an infinitely refreshing drink, and one of Cuban bar culture’s greatest contributions to cocktails.