Bacardi Cocktail
While traipsing through the historical records, it can often get confusing as to what the real recipe for any particular cocktail is, or at least was intended to be. Take the Bacardi Cocktail as one example. Traditionally it is expected to be made pretty much the same as a Daiquiri, except obviously with Bacardi Rum, as well as with the addition of grenadine syrup.
If you look through the various cocktail recipe books that have been published, you can however get a little confused. Some recipes will list it as simply being a Daiquiri made with Bacardi.
To date, the oldest printed recipe from my library is as follows:
Bacardi Cocktail
1/2 pony grenadine syrup.
2/3 jigger Bacardi rum.
Juice of half a lime.
Shake well. Strain. Serve.
(“Drinks” by Jacques Straub, 1914)
Which would appear to promote grenadine as a necessary ingredient, but then just a few years later we see:
Bacardi Cocktail
1 drink Bacardi Rum
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 dashes Gum Syrup
Shake well in a mixing glass with cracked ice, strain and serve.
(“Mixed Drinks”, by Hugo Esslin, 1917)
Which is just a Daiquiri made with Bacardi rum. I personally believe that to make a real Bacardi Cocktail you must use grenadine, otherwise it is just a Bacardi Daiquiri. The recipe that I use is as follows:
Bacardi Cocktail
- 1 1/2 ounces Bacardi light rum
- 1 ounce lemon or lime juice
- 3/4 ounce simple syrup
- 1/4 ounce grenadine syrup
Shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.
The history of this little drink has another little chapter that began soon after prohibition. After standing by and watching sub-par establishments use rums other than Bacardi in the construction of the Bacardi Cocktail, the Bacardi Company took matters into their own hands and went to court. Finally, in 1936, the courts of New York sided with Bacardi and ruled that the Bacardi cocktail can only be made with Bacardi rum. Thus making the Bacardi Cocktail the first, and so far only, cocktail to have its day in court.
I had to go look up gum syrup. Seems like it might have a texture/viscosity impact on the finished drink. I don’t think I’ve ever run across it before. Can it be purchased, or is it necessary to go find gum arabic to make the stuff?