Virgin Daiquiri
Lime, sugar and ice, shaken until it is cold enough to frost the glass.
Ingredients
- 30 ml Jigger One small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a teaspoon. Lime juice - Roughly two limes, and nothing from a bottle
- 20 ml Spoons A tablespoon and a teaspoon. Simple syrup
- 40 ml Jigger One small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a tablespoon. Soda water - Standing in for the spirit, so the drink has some length to it
- 1 wheel Lime (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Shake lime, syrup and soda hard with ice, then strain into a chilled coupe.
Method
- Chill a coupe in the freezer or fill it with ice while you work.
- Shake the lime juice, syrup and soda water hard with plenty of ice for about 15 seconds.
- Strain into the chilled coupe, leaving the ice behind.
- Add a thin wheel of lime, and drink it before the frost on the glass has gone.
Serve it
Virgin Daiquiri
The Daiquiri is the most honest sour there is - rum, lime, sugar, nothing else - which means taking the rum out leaves a drink with nowhere to hide. Done properly it is not a compromise at all: it is a very cold limeade with the balance of a cocktail, and it is the recipe to reach for when somebody says a mocktail cannot be grown-up.
Getting it right
Shake it, and shake it far harder than feels sensible. The Daiquiri is a spirit, a citrus and a sugar, and when it is poured it wants a little water in it from the ice; shaking hard is what chills the drink, softens the edges and puts the fine frost on the outside of the glass. The soda water takes the place of the volume a spirit would have contributed, so keep it in the shaker rather than topping the glass later.
Tasting notes
Sharp, clean and bracing, with the lime right at the front and a soft cane finish. It is the coldest, driest drink in this half of the book.