The Cocktail Spirit with Robert HessEl Floridita
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The "Floridita" Cocktail gets its name from the Floridita bar in Cuba. If you glance through various cocktail books, you will most likely find a variety of different drinks that go by this name, I'm not sure which one should be considered the original version, but this particular one I find to be quite delightful. You'll also learn about how to make homemade Grenadine in the process. (And as to the name of this drink using the masculine "El" instead of the feminine "La"... I've been told that while the establishment takes the feminine name of "Floridita", in Spanish the bar itself is masculine, and thus "El" should be used. At least that's what I've been told.)
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Recipe
El Floridita
- 1 1/2 ounces rum
- 1/2 ounce lime juice
- 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
- 1/8 ounce grenadine
- <1/8 ounce white créme de cacao
shake with ice
strain into a cocktail glass
garnish with a lime twist
NOTE: Measuring all the ingredients is important with this drink. Specifically, be sure not to use too much créme de cacao, you should just barely taste it.
Home Made Grenadine
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 pomegranate, seeded
In a saucepan bring the water to a simmer and then stir in the sugar until it is dissolved
Turn to a very low simmer and add the pomegranate seeds and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes
Strain, bottle, and allow to cool
Add 1 ounce of vodka as a preservative
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Comments
The Floridita is one of my favorite cocktails, but as I point out in the episode it is very important to measure carefully. I’ve had this drink made by bartenders who were just eye-balling the ingredients, and it was pretty bad.
I love rum. Rum is such a great, flavorful spirit. Tonight I was winding down from a family member’s 75th Birthday celebration / Labor Day weekend get together. I looked through my small but ever growing liquor collection and saw that I had all the makings for El Floridita.
What an awesome cocktail ! The tangy lime in combination with the rum and the hint of chocolate at the end is fantastic !
Thank you for sharing this excellent recipe.
To ask a boringly practical question about vodka as a preservative in simple syrup and home-made grenadine: How long will it keep in room temperature? And roughly how much vodka to syrup do I need?
Sorry about the dull questions. Must remember to ask something more “food for thought”-ish next time =)
Alex,
I haven’t done an exhaustive study on the topic. I made simple syrup once without adding any vodka and saw that it eventually started growing black specks… so on the next batch I added about an ounce and a half of vodka to a pint of simple syrup, and haven’t seen any more signs of black specks.
-Robert
I’ve made a few fruit syrups, but not grenadine. I appreciate the great advice on how to seed a pomegranate!
My question is this: When making a raspberry or pineapple syrup, should it be done in the refrigerator for 24 hours, at room temperature for less hours, or simmering on the stove for 30-45 minutes as you suggest with the pomegranate? And while I’m on the subject, how about using this method with other fruits such as papaya, mango, blackberry, strawberry, etc?
Blair,
My preference when making flavored syrups, using fresh fruit, is to simmer the fruit in the simple syrup, although other methods work too, and because each method has a slightly different result, there might be some fruit where each of them might work better.
This truly is a magnificent cocktail. Thanks for presenting it, Robert. After making this drink several times, for my taste, I find adding a touch of simple syrup creates a more balanced drink.
Robert,
Do you have any experience with limes concentrating from drying up? The reason I say this is, I made a drink with half of a lime and left the other half out on my cutting board, cut side up for a few hours. I came back and made this drink, and I measured very carefully but the drink came out extremely sour…a lot more so than I thought 1/2 oz of lime juice could produce. My only theory is that by leaving the lime cut side up it dried up so when I juiced it I was getting a concentrated juice that held more acidic potency.
Nik, what I’ve noticed isn’t so much “concentrating” of limes as they dry, but the lime going bad as the juice gets more bitter, and not in a good way.
Regarding my earlier comment about adding simple syrup: Since making my own grenadine, as you showed Robert, I find it not necessary to add more sweetness. Perhaps the sugar content in my homemade grenadine is greater than that of the commercial product I was using.
Hi Robert, I’m a big fan of the show. I’ve been making my own grenadine for a while now, but I’ve just been using pomegranate juice. Like lemons and limes, pomegranates are found in varying sizes. About what volume of arils do you use in your recipe of 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water?
When making mine, I don’t worry “too much” about the size of the fruit, I just use what appears to be a normal sized one.