Hemingway Special (Papa Doble) Cocktail Recipe
A sugarless daiquiri variation, dry and bracing, where grapefruit and maraschino stand in for the sweetness.
- Category: Contemporary Classics
- Glass: Coupe glass
- ABV: 15%
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep time: ~3 min
Ingredients
- White rum60 ml (2 oz)
- Grapefruit juice40 ml (1.4 oz)
- Maraschino liqueur15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Fresh lime juice15 ml (0.5 oz)
How to Make It
- Pour the rum, grapefruit juice, maraschino liqueur and lime juice into a shaker filled with ice.
- Shake hard until the shaker is frosted.
- Double strain into a chilled coupe.
- Serve very cold, without garnish.
Garnish
None — traditionally served without garnish
What it tastes like
The citrus acidity leads and it smells of lemon and lime peel.
The technique
Shaking. Anything with juice, syrup, egg white or cream gets shaken: the shaker chills the drink and adds roughly 20% water, and that water is what takes the edge off. Twelve to fifteen seconds, until the tin frosts over. Under-shaking leaves the drink harsh because it never got enough dilution.
Glass and ice
A stemmed, shallow coupe. The stem keeps your hand's warmth away from the drink, and the wide bowl carries the aroma to your nose. Served without ice.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- White rum
- The Cuban style is light and dry, the Puerto Rican a little rounder. It is the base of the mojito and the daiquiri; swap in gold rum and the drink turns sweeter.
- Grapefruit juice
- Grapefruit juice. Pink is sweet and soft, white is bitter and sharp — when a recipe does not say which, pink is the safer call.
- Maraschino liqueur
- A clear liqueur made from marasca cherries. It has nothing to do with the red jarred cocktail cherry — it smells of almond kernel and flowers, and it is dry, not sweet.
- Fresh lime juice
- Freshly squeezed lime. Bottled lime tastes cooked and flat; one lime gives about 30 ml. If you have none, half lemon and half grapefruit juice comes closest.
The Story
The drink is linked to the El Floridita bar in Havana and to the writer Ernest Hemingway, who is said to have preferred his daiquiris without sugar.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Hemingway Special (Papa Doble) mixed?
- It is shaken and served in a coupe.
- How strong is a Hemingway Special (Papa Doble)?
- Roughly 15% ABV as served — right around a glass of wine — an aperitif or an early-evening drink.
- Can a Hemingway Special (Papa Doble) be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Hemingway Special (Papa Doble) hard to make?
- Moderate. A shaker or mixing glass plus a strainer covers it.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.