El Presidente

classic cocktail

Jun 3

El Presidente rum cocktail — El Presidente

Rum may have been the preferred tot of the British Navy, but I hear no complaints with raising our mugs of rum for this American toast, either. This specific rum tipple is a classic invented over one hundred years ago by Constantino Ribalaigua at a café off Havana’s Central Park where he served as head bartender. The first published recipe can be found in the Manual del Cantinero by John B. Escalante, 1915, which clearly predates the more common attribution to Eddie Woelke, an American bartender at the Jockey Club in Havana during the Prohibition era. The lore has it that the drink was ultimately named after Gerardo Machado, dictator of Cuba in the twenties, who was known as the “butcher” due to his missing finger, which he lost as a child while working in, you guessed it, a butcher shop. Hopefully that was the only meaning.

The El President is the Cuban version of the more famous Manhattan, that classic mix of rye and sweet vermouth. Rum replaces the rye, and dry vermouth the sweet. Because of this, a touch more sugar is added back with a dash of grenadine, the rich pomegranate syrup found in many old classics. Many iterations and versions of the cocktail can be found over time, some with added orange liqueur, some with sweet vermouth, and some with a splash of lime. Here I made Simon Difford, the well-known spirits writer’s version, which successfully marries all the variations into one glorious and well balanced cocktail. Set sail with one soon – President’s orders!