El Presidente
Aged white rum, blanc vermouth, orange curaçao and a dash of grenadine, stirred. Havana's elegant 1920s cocktail — the Martini of the Cuban golden age.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Chill a coupe.
Add the rum, blanc vermouth, curaçao and grenadine to a mixing glass.
Fill with ice and stir for 25 seconds.
Strain into the chilled coupe, express an orange peel over the top and drop it in.
A thoughtful finish
- Blanc vermouth, not dry: the modern drink depends on its gentle sweetness. A dry vermouth makes a sharper, older-style version that is also good but is a different thing.
- A bar-spoon of grenadine is a colour and a hint, not a flavour. More and the drink turns pink and sweet.
- A rum with a year or three in oak gives the drink body; a bone-white rum makes it thin.
Common mistakes
- Shaking it. It is a stirred, clear drink.
- Supermarket grenadine. The dash is small, but red-dye syrup still shows.
- Too much curaçao. A quarter-ounce; it is there for aroma.
A few good questions.
What does El Presidente taste like?
A rum Martini with a little orange and a blush of pomegranate: dry, smooth, faintly sweet, elegant.
Dry or blanc vermouth?
The modern standard is blanc. The 1920s versions mostly used dry, and a split of the two is a good compromise.
Which president?
Probably Mario García Menocal, president 1913 to 1921, when the Jockey Club was at its height. Nobody is certain.
Can I use white rum?
Yes, but choose one with some age — a Cuban-style rum aged a year or more. A neutral white rum makes a thin drink.
Variations
- Martini — Gin and dry vermouth.
- Bamboo — Sherry and dry vermouth.
- Adonis — Sherry and sweet vermouth.
- Rum Old Fashioned — Aged rum, sugar and bitters.
Where it comes from
c. 1915–1925 · Havana, Cuba · Eddie Woelke (attributed) · Jockey Club, Havana
Contested. More than one origin is claimed for this drink. We show the competing accounts rather than pick one.
El Presidente was the fashionable drink of Havana in the 1920s, when American money and Prohibition made the city the bar of the hemisphere. It is named for a Cuban president — most say Mario García Menocal, in office 1913 to 1921, though Gerardo Machado has his supporters — and is usually credited to Eddie Woelke, an American bartender working at the Jockey Club. Early recipes used dry vermouth; the version that survived uses blanc, the sweet white vermouth, with a little orange curaçao and a dash of grenadine, and it is a stirred, Martini-like drink rather than a tropical one.
Sources
- David Wondrich, Imbibe!, 2015 (book)
- Wayne Curtis, And a Bottle of Rum, 2006 (book)
- Basil Woon, When It's Cocktail Time in Cuba, 1928 (book)
Strength. About 1.44 US standard drinks at an estimated 27% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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