Presidente Cocktail, Gold Rum, Vermouth and Curaçao, Havana 1939
Reader ratingsVermouth and gold rum, three parts to two, stirred cold with half a teaspoon of curaçao and served with cherries and orange peel: the Presidente of Havana’s Bar La Florida, printed in 1939.
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink, about 3 fl oz
- Prep
- Total
Presidente with two cherries on a pick and orange peel in a V-shaped glass, beside an orange.
The story behind the recipe
The Presidente is a rum cocktail with more vermouth than rum: half Ama vermouth, a third Bacardí gold rum and half a teaspoon of curaçao, stirred cold, strained and served with cherries and a peel of orange. Havana’s Bar La Florida printed it in 1939 in its bilingual booklet Floridita Cock-tails.
One of the three
The booklet reprints a 1937 United Press report by Jack Cuddy on the bar’s head bartender, Constantino Ribalaigua, and Cuddy counted the President, as he spelled it, among “the three of Cuba’s most popular cocktails,” with the Daiquirí No. 4 and the Pepín Rivero, “all his own inventions.” That is the reporter’s word, not proof that Constante was first, and the booklet doesn’t say which president the name honors. The bar and its report are told in What Did Havana’s Cocktail King Pour in the 1930s?
Read more about this recipe
Which vermouth
“Ama” is a brand name we haven’t identified, and the booklet doesn’t say sweet or dry. We use a blanc vermouth, pale and lightly sweet, which keeps the drink gold and lets the rum and curaçao show; a sweet vermouth makes a darker, richer drink. Stir it, as the booklet says: “Cool well and strain.”
PRESIDENTE COCKTAIL
½ Vermouth Ama. / ⅓ Bacardí Carta Oro. / ½ Cucharadita de Curacao. / Hielo menudo. / Enfríese perfectamente y cuélese. / Sírvase con guindas y una corteza de naranja.
½ Ama Vermouth. / ⅓ Bacardí Carta Oro. / ½ Teaspoonful of Curacao. / Crushed ice. / Cool well and strain. / Serve with cherries and a peel of orange.
Recipe makes: 1 drink, about 3 fl oz
Ingredients
For 1 drink, about 3 fl oz. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 1 drink, about 3 fl oz.
- Blanc vermouth1 1/2 fl oz
- Gold rum1 fl oz
- Orange curaçao1/2 tsp
- Cracked ice1 cup
- Cocktail cherries2
- Strip orange peel1
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 1 1/2 fl oz blanc vermouth
- 1 fl oz gold rum
- 1/2 tsp orange curaçao
- 1 cup cracked ice
- 2 cocktail cherries
- 1 strip orange peel
Equipment
Mixing glass and bar spoon
Strainer
Small stemmed cocktail glass
Instructions
Chill a small stemmed cocktail glass in the freezer or with ice water.
Put the cracked ice in a mixing glass and add the blanc vermouth, gold rum and orange curaçao.
Stir for about 20 seconds, until the mixing glass is very cold.
Empty the cocktail glass if it holds ice water and strain the drink into it.
Add the cocktail cherries on a pick, twist the orange peel over the glass, drop it in and serve.
Nutrition
140calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink, about 3 fl oz
Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for 80-proof rum and typical label values for blanc vermouth and curaçao, for one drink.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
This is one drink. Keep three parts vermouth to two of rum, and stir no more than two at a time.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
The booklet’s half and third don’t make a whole, so they are read as parts: three of vermouth to two of rum. The blanc vermouth is our choice. The drink is about 22% ABV after stirring.
Its orange can stand alone: Fresh Orangeade, from a 1924 London drinks book, steeps the rind in hot syrup before the juice goes in.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
Floridita Cock-tails (Havana: Bar La Florida, 1939), p. 58, “Presidente Cocktail”; Jack Cuddy’s United Press report of March 2, 1937, reprinted on pp. 9–10
Recipe details
- Drink family
- Cocktails & Mixed Drinks
- Region
- Caribbean
- Source decade
- 1930s
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Occasion
- Dinner party