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| The Bacardi Cocktail |
The Grandfather Story:
The cocktail has been around since 1917 and made popular in the USA. The Daiquiri was actually the original Bacardi cocktail which became popular after Prohibition. But when bars ran out of Bacardi, bartenders made the cocktail with whatever rum they had in store.
This displeases Bacardi a whole lot. So Bacardi said, enough is enough, and took matters to court. In 1936, the Bacardi cocktail was copyrighted. The ruling states that an authentic Bacardi cocktail must be made with using only Bacardi rum. Bacardi then decided to modify the original daiquiri recipe and added some Grenadine to make it THE Bacardi cocktail just to differentiate it from the daiquiri.
Fun fact: Bacardi is Cuban by birth, but it is not longer considered "Cuban" rum as it's not found in Cuba anymore as it moved its operation out in 1960 (this in itself, is a history lesson). Did you know that the Bacardi brand has been around since 1862? Well, now you do!
Strength:
It's exactly like the daiquiri, except it's pink from the grenadine syrup. Not strong, and easy drinking. Again, gotta drink this fast. Tastes better cold.
IBA standard recipe & method:
Recipe:
4.5 cl Bacardi Rum White
2 cl Fresh lime juice
1 cl Grenadine
Method:
Pour all ingredients into shaker with ice cubes, shake well, strain into chilled cocktail glass.
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| You need to strain it, strain it. |
Variations:
- Many recipes calls for LOADS of Bacardi - 2 shots!
- Most recipes also hails for equal parts of Grenadine and Lime juice - this also featured on the Bacardi website.
- You may add sugar syrup to offset the tartiness, depending on how sweet/sour your Grenadine syrup is.
- IBA's version is too sour, not pleasant, very thin mouthfeel.
- I did some research on Grenadine and apparently making your own would taste better than anything store bought. Firstly, Grenadine is basically French for pomegranate. So, it's essentially syrup made with pomegranate juice. Be forewarned that a lot of store bought "grenadines" are not necessarily made out of pomegranate. Some mix it about with other "berry" flavours. Most are made of artificial flavours. You can easily make it on your own by mixing (just shake it hard) equal parts of fresh pomegranate juice with sugar. No boiling required. This website has what seems like a legit method. I used this recipe for my own homemade grenadine. Tastes much better than the crappy store bought one I have by a mile. You could however, make it 1:2 (sugar), making the syrup more sweet to your liking. YMMV.
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| Pink gets me high as a kite. |
My Preference:
I liked the recipe from Difford's Guide (link below) but modified it slightly to make it easier to measure with a jigger. I mean, it's quite hard to measure 7.5 ml or 3.75 ml with a 45 ml jigger loh.
6 cl Bacardi Superior
1.5 cl Fresh lime juice
1 cl Grenadine syrup (homemade, 1:1)
0.5 cl Sugar syrup (1:2 sugar)
You will need to shake it quite a bit to lose the "spirit-y" taste of the Bacardi. But otherwise, this recipe should give you a fuller/thicker mouthfeel, and the tart is more subdued with the additional sugar syrup.
Sources & for more:
If you insist on buying your grenadine, this website has some Grenadine brand reviews: http://www.artofdrink.com/2007/10/grenadine-reviews.php