Daiquiri. Today the word evokes a bloated frozen drink full of imitation fruit flavors and sickly sweet syrups served up at a chain restaurant by a waitress covered in flair. There was a time, however, when manly men saddled up to a bar in a tropical locale and order a drink by the same name befitting their testosterone laced selves.
Tops among the romanticized bars of the early part of the 20th century is La Floridita in Havana, Cuba. A mention brings images of beautiful women, curls of cigar smoke snaking through the humid air, and classic cocktails. Earnest Hemingway frequented the bar so often he had a special tipple mixed in his honor.
The La Florida Cocktail Book published in 1935 has four daiquiri recipes. Number one is a simple concoction of rum, sugar and lemon juice shaken over cracked ice and poured into a glass. I mixed up a drink per the directions and it was delicious. The combination of three simple ingredients was very refreshing. I mixed the same drink up substituting lime juice for the lemon juice and simple syrup for the sugar. Again the resulting cocktail was very good. Either option is a winner, but if you want to adhere to the traditional recipe then I recommend the lemon juice variant.
Ingredients:
2 oz rum
1 tsp. sugar
Juice of half a lemon
Place rum, sugar and lemon juice in a shaker over cracked ice. Shake well and strain into a glass.
Sweet Tea & Bourbon 
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