Ernest Hemingway's Favorite Cocktail Was An Absolute Classic

While Ernest Hemingway's literary output is legendary, his love of alcoholic beverages is equally so. One drink, in particular, was said to have captivated the author so deeply that he enjoyed 16 of them in one sitting. While it's often hard to separate myth from truth, especially when it comes to a towering figure like Hemingway, the consensus is that the writer absolutely adored daiquiris after sampling one at a bar in Havana, Cuba, albeit with a variation on the original recipe.

A classic daiquiri recipe features rum, lime juice, and sweetener (often simple syrup) plus a lime garnish. These ingredients are added to a shaker containing ice and then strained. It's not to be confused with frozen daiquiris, which features the same ingredients but blended with ice. Classic daiquiris have a reputation for being sweet, which Hemingway reportedly wasn't fond of. That led to a tweak of the ingredients typically included in the drink, which was dubbed Hemingway's daiquiri or Papa Doble (as papa was a nickname often attributed to the author).

Ernest Hemingway's substantial appetite for liquor had much to do with his suggested variations on the classic daiquiri. The writer's version nixed the sugar and included twice the rum as the original cocktail. While undeniably potent, the absence of sweetness in Hemingway's cocktail makes it rather one-note when it comes to flavor. Other recipes for Hemingway's namesake beverage include grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur, which is derived from tart marasca cherries.

Hemingway's boozy spin on the daiquiri wasn't the author's only alcoholic concoction. It's also claimed that Hemingway invented a drink called Death in the Afternoon, a straightforward cocktail consisting of just two ingredients: absinthe and champagne (variations on Death in the Afternoon include replacing the Champagne with Chardonnay). Absinthe is a potent liquor best known for its herbaceous flavor, as well as its purported ability to induce hallucinations, thanks to the inclusion of wormwood. Hemingway's invention even shares a name with "Death in the Afternoon," the author's ode to bullfighting, which was published in 1932.

While lots of tall tales surround Ernest Hemingway and his insatiable appetite for booze, one can gain insight into his favorite drinks by reviewing his literary works. To this end, the author talked about whiskey and soda frequently, which is a humble concoction consisting of, you guessed it, club soda and scotch whiskey. Other cocktails mentioned by the writer include negronis, martinis, and americanos, which feature sweet vermouth, Campari, and chilled soda water.

There is one cocktail often claimed to be among Papa Hemingway's favorites, with little truth to substantiate the rumor. Mojitos are commonly mentioned in connection to the writer thanks to a note posted inside a '50s-era Havana-based bar, which stated Hemingway's preference for the drink. As for the authenticity of the note, a friend of Hemingway claimed that it was not penned in the author's own hand but instead forged to attract customers to the establishment. As a result, it's not clear that the writer was truly a fan of the classic mojito. What is undisputed is that Hemingway had a real passion for imbibing and wasn't shy about tweaking classic cocktail recipes to make them his own.