“Drinking is a way of ending the day.” –Ernest Hemingway

We can’t bring Cuba’s swaying palms to 27th Street, but you can enjoy a taste of Havana at Vino tomorrow evening, when we’ll be mixing daiquirìs! Traditionally made from rum, lime juice and sugar, this quintessential Cuban cocktail is said to have been invented around 1800 by a group of American mining engineers working at the Daiquirì iron mine near Santiago. It was Jennings Cox, General Manager of the Spanish American Iron Co., who is credited with creating the drink at the Venus bar, not far from Daiquirì beach. Some believe Cox accidentally came up with the Daiquirì after he ran out of gin.

The daiquirì remained a local favorite until the early twentieth century, when Admiral Lucius W. Johnson, a U.S. Navy medical officer, introduced the drink to the Army and Navy Club in Washington, D.C. By the 1940s, as Latin America’s cultural appeal increased, the cocktail began to obtain international status thanks to those served at Havana’s El Floridita bar (above), seeping its way into popular culture thanks to famous daiquirì drinkers such as Ernest Hemingway, JFK and, er, Fredo Corleone.

Today the El Floridita is content to mine its past as a hangout for Cuban exiles such as Hemingway, whose statue props up the bar, while his hand-written message of affection rests appended to the wall: “My mojito in La Bodeguita, my daiquirì in El Floridita.”

Join Vino’s Scott Rosenbaum tomorrow from 5:30pm as he prepares this Caribbean classic, using Luxardo Triplum Triple Sec and Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum. What better way to end the day?

FREE DAIQUIRÌ TASTING
Thursday, April 15
5:30-7:30pm
FREE (cigars not included)

For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email contact@vinosite.com.

Vino’s goes airborne this Thursday as we taste Aviation cocktails! Join Carl from Winebow as he mixes and pours this classic New York drink. The Aviation was originally created by Hugo Ensslin, an innovative bartender at New York’s Hotel Wallick (located at Broadway and 43rd Street — see period postcard below). Ensslin included the cocktail in his Recipes for Mixed Drinks in 1916. Considered by some a variation on the Gin Sour, the Aviation is made from Gin, maraschino liqueur and lemon juice. Some recipes call for a dash of Crème de Violette, although this was habitually omitted due to the ingredient’s scarcity.

Tomorrow evening our guest-mixologist will be using Junipero Gin, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur and Crème de Violette to create this tasty and streamlined ode to twentieth century pioneering spirit.

Aviation
2 oz Junipero Gin
1 oz fresh lemon
1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino
1/2 oz simple syrup
1/4 oz Crème de Violette

Shake all ingredients over ice and strain into a Martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist or Marasca cherry.

COCKTAIL HOUR: AVIATION TASTING
Thursday, April 8
5:30-7:30pm

For more information please call 212-725-6516 or email contact@vinosite.com.