Daiquiris weren’t always synonymous with sickly sweet frozen drinks slurped on spring break. Made from rum, lime juice, and sugar, the daiquiri is named for a district in Cuba. It was likely brought stateside by naval officers, then popularized in the 1930s by Ernest Hemingway (who coined his own version with maraschino liqueur). Today, veterans of New Orleans’ bar scene Nick Detrich and Chris Hannah serve up several iterations at their new Cuban-inspired cafe, Manolito. To research their new concept, the duo traveled to Cuba several times with friend Julio Cabrera—a Cuban-born Miami mixologist known for taking bartenders to Havana to educate them on the island nation’s cocktail culture. The Daiquiri para Julio, named for Cabrera, is a traditional hand-shaken daiquiri, while the Creole Muse is Hannah’s take on the frozen version, amped up with absinthe and Ponchatoula strawberries.
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