Ernest Hemingway was perhaps as well known for his drinking and love of the sea as his writing. So when considering the perfect boat drink, it is only fitting that in the running would be the “Papa Doble,” a concoction of lime juice, grapefruit juice and white rum that Hemingway was known to request at his beloved Floridita.
The recipe for the Hemingway Daiquiri has long been contested, with the amounts of citrus varying and a dispute over whether sugar or a maraschino cherry were included. According a piece that ran in the Wall Street Journal, A.E. Hotchner drank numerous Papa Dobles at the Floridita with Hemingway in 1948, and carefully recounted the ingredients used to make the slushy beverage: “A Papa Doble was compounded of two and a half jiggers of Bacardi White Label Rum, the juice of two limes and half a grapefruit and six drops of maraschino (cherry liqueur),” Mr. Hotchner wrote.
The Daiquiri ingredients were then “placed in an electric mixer over shaved ice, whirled vigorously and served foaming in large goblets.” It is said that Hemingway himself described a properly beaten Daiquiri as looking “like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots.”
The grapefruit juice and splash of cherry liqueur in this special Daiquiri variation make it a refreshing choice for a hot day on the island. It’s no wonder Papa drank them in abundance. If you're not making your own, you can find them on the drink menu at The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort on St. Simons Island.
