The clas­sic Daiquiri might just be the most con­ve­nient and appro­pri­ate rum drink you can make on your beach vaca­tion. In fact, it’s so sim­ple it only includes three ingre­di­ents. That means you’ll want to choose a qual­i­ty rum. I just hap­pened to be in a coun­try that allowed me to pur­chase Havana Club Añe­jo 7 Años (Score!). So it was a no-brain­er to use this rum in my Daiquiri. Some­times the sim­plest drinks are the most enjoy­able. I guess that’s why it’s a clas­sic.

The Daiquiri gets its name from a beach near San­ti­a­go, Cuba, but it gets its fame from Cuba’s renowned El Floridi­ta Bar. It’s also one of just six clas­sic recipes to make the cut and be fea­tured in David Embury’s cel­e­brat­ed book The Fine Art of Mix­ing Drinks.

You’re gonna need some basic tools, but noth­ing you can’t fit in your suit­case. All you’ll need is a shak­er, a jig­ger, some­thing to strain the lime juice and pos­si­bly some­thing to squeeze limes. I made a sim­ple syrup instead of shak­ing sug­ar into the drink. The sim­ple syrup takes some prep, but will give the cock­tail added vol­ume that slows down the drink­ing pace. Trust me, this comes in handy when you’re sip­ping your Daiquiri at sun­set.

Recipe

• 2 oz qual­i­ty rum (I usu­al­ly use an amber)
• 3/4 oz lime juice
• 1 oz sim­ple syrup (1:1)

Add all ingre­di­ents into a shak­er and shake with ice. Strain into a dou­ble old fash­ioned glass, or a high­ball glass filled with crushed ice. I don’t see the need for a gar­nish on this cock­tail if you have your mea­sure­ments right. You could add a lime wheel if you want.