Various drink recepies that start with “El” from Gaz Reagan:
El Floridita
There are more than a couple of formulas for the Floridita. This one is fairly unusual–the chocolate notes from the cacao peep through the other ingredients and provide a fabulous extra dimension to the drink.I’m not quite sure where this formula came from and, after Jim Meehan asked me about it in 2010, I asked Ted “Doctor Cocktail” Haigh if he knew anything about it. Doc told me that the earliest “crème de cacao: Floridita recipe that he knew of was in the 1972 edition of Trader Vic’s book, but the formula was a little different , and it called for a little curacao as well as all the ingredients in the formula below. Go figure.
45 ml (1.5 oz) light rum
15 ml (.5 oz) sweet vermouth
15 ml (.5 oz) fresh lime juice
2 to 3 dashes white crème de cacao
2 to 3 dashes grenadine
Shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
El Floridita 1930
This version of the El Floridita is adapted from a recipe found by Ted Haigh, author of Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, in a 1930 recipe book from the El Floridita bar in Havana
60 ml (2 oz) light rum
22.5 ml (.75 oz) fresh lime juice
15 ml (.5 oz) simple syrup
2 dashes maraschino liqueur
Shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
El Matador
Adapted from a recipe by Joel Baker, Bourbon & Branch, San Francisco. One of the two recipes that tied for Second-Runner-Up in the 2008 Vinos de Jerez Cocktail Competition.
37.5 ml (1.25 oz) Macallan 12-year-old single malt scotch
22.5 ml (.75 oz) Williams and Humbert Dry Sack (Solera Especial) Oloroso 15 Year Old Sherry
22.5 ml (.75 oz) Aperol
2 dashes Fee Bros. Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters
1 flamed orange twist, as garnish
Stir over ice 30 times counter-clockwise because Joel Baker is left-handed. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and add the garnish.
El Presidente
“Eddie Woelke, then at the Sevilla [Biltmore Hotel in Havana, Cuba], was among those who enriched the art of mixers. Some of his noted creations are Mary Pickford, El Presidente, Dorothy Gish, and Nacional cocktails. While in Havana he received ‘la corona’ in recognition of his being the only man ever known to have prepared one million drinks from Ron Bacardi.” Miami Herald, March 14, 1937.
60 ml (2 oz) light rum
15 ml (.5 oz) fresh lime juice
15 ml (.5 oz) pineapple juice
1 to 2 dashes grenadine
Shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
