Sours · Rum · IBA official
Tart, pale and bracingly cold, this is the Daiquiri with the sugar taken out and grapefruit put in. Maraschino supplies the only sweetness, a faint cherry and almond note under all that citrus.
2 oz
white rume.g. Bacardi · Havana Club · Plantation · Don Q · Flor de Caña
1¼ oz
grapefruit juice freshly squeezed
½ oz
maraschino liqueure.g. Luxardo · Maraska · Lazzaroni
½ oz
lime juice
Garnish: Lime wheel · Ice: Served up, no ice
Hemingway Special
Very fresh, dry and citrus driven, with bitter grapefruit, sharp lime and a light cherry note from the maraschino. Fairly strong for its lightness.
The drink comes from El Floridita in Havana, where head bartender Constantino Ribalaigua Vert made the bar famous for its Daiquiris. Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Cuba for many years, was a regular there. The usual story is that he wanted his Daiquiri without sugar and with more rum, and that the bar adapted the recipe with grapefruit juice and maraschino.
At the Floridita the drink became known as the Papa Doble, a double measure served blended with ice. The shaken version with the name Hemingway Special is the one the IBA lists among its Contemporary Classics.
The Hemingway Special adds grapefruit and maraschino and uses no sugar syrup, so it is drier and more bitter.
No. The only sweetness comes from the maraschino, so the drink is clearly dry and tart.
At El Floridita in Havana, the bar Hemingway visited regularly.
The perfect sound
Papa Hemingway at the bar of El Floridita.
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