Havana bar El Floridita — comfortably know as a favorite haunt of far-famed drinker and occasional writer Ernest Hemingway — is host a two - solar day rum cocktail - making contest for barkeeper from six countries . The competition , judge by the Floridita staff , requires each dissident to develop classicDaiquirisusingrumand slaked lime juice , as well as fruity versions put at random .
According to theAP , example from America , Cuba , Canada , Argentina , Mexico and Panama are vying for Daiquiri domination . It ’s not as well-situated as throwing rum into a blender — competitors Nick Detrich of New Orleans and Cuban aboriginal Gonzalez Salguero both expressed the penury for precision and tending to detail in the preparedness of a right Daiquiri , which can sometimes be brushed aside as a sugary spring break sipper .
The Daiquiri wasinvented in Cubaby American technologist Jennings Cox during the Spanish - American warfare in 1896 , but it was Constante Ribalaigua , the mixologist at El Floridita , who vulgarize the blended , grapefruit - spike version with the help of Hemingway , who , legend has it , regularly would put away 15 of them in a single good afternoon ( the figure rises with each retelling of the tarradiddle ) .
Flickr/Dan Lundberg
In late 24-hour interval , the barroom ( which is nearing its 200th day of remembrance ) has primarily become a hub for tourists , who down Daiquiri after Daiquiri and take selfies with the statue of Papa Hemingway , permanently perch in a quoin tooshie at the bar . As the trade stoppage on Cuba thawing , more of thehistory of Cuban cocktail cultureis coming to light , but the kitschy Daiquiri will likely continue one of Havana ’s biggest draws for booze - given vacationer .
El Floridita will crown the beneficial Daiquiri - maker later Friday at the conclusion of the contest . In the meantime , control out this videoof the contest fromReuters .
Update ( July 18):Christian Delpech of Argentina , a flair barman who presently work at the Carnaval Court bar in Las Vegas , has been coronate the novel King of the Daiquiri . Silver and bronze rifle to Cubans Fabian Ramos and Mario Luis Acosta .
