Cocktail blogging: the daiquiri

I used to think of daiquiris as those slushy, insipid, banana-infused concoctions that are made from the cheap, artificial mixes you get for $2.99 and don't need to refrigerate. I thought of how my brain froze when I sipped at them, and how I could never tell whether it was the cheap alcohol or the sugar that made me feel vaguely sick.

It turns out, though, that the daiquiri I imagined is the bastard cousin of a simple, pure, and really excellent cocktail. The daiquiri is like the margarita in that it gets its sirupy reputation from its frozen relative, but that reputation is undeserved. It is like a martini in that once you have something that works this well, I don't know why you'd mess with it. Daiquiris are quite simple—only 3 ingredients—but I don't know that I want much more in a cocktail than the unadulterated limeness that only a daiquiri offers. (As I have mentioned before on this blog, I am a terrible lime whore). I tend to use simple sirup from raw sugar rather than refined white sugar; it compliments the rum better.

Here's my recipe:

1 lime
2 ponies light rum
1 pony simple sirup

Serve straight up in a cocktail glass. For those of you who were counting, that's about a 3:2:1 ratio on the ingredients, so if you're making a lot, use those proportions.