Get Your Girl Drunk on a Strawberry Daiquiri
Before I got serious about cocktails, I had two main associations if you said the words “strawberry daiquiri” to me. The first thing that would come to mind was a neon red chemical mixture, poured into something plastic and the size of Costco, with a 90s-era graphic on the label, poured into some kind of industrial equipment, where it would freeze and turn into sugar porridge full of a future hangover.
The second could have been the ” Girl Drinks While Drunk” sketch from The Kids in the Hall. A very dark and very funny riff to Days of Wine and Roses , which portrays Dave Foley as a bright-eyed, furry, teetotaler, recently promoted to VP of Business, who is being corrupted by his boss (Kevin McDonald) with delicious “girly drinks”. “. “. This, of course, sets off his downward spiral into alcohol addiction, which can only be sated with complex, labor-intensive, fruity concoctions teeming with multiple ingredients and holiday decorations. At one point, he instructs his boss on how to make him a “Squash Strawberry Street Cat”:
Kevin: God, Ray, I… don’t think I know that.
Dave: Well, it’s really very simple, Russ. You just take twelve large chopped strawberries, three ounces of dark rum and…
Kevin: Oh my God.
Dave: … a drop of mint cream …shake gently and pour.
And while this strawberry daiquiri-style smoothie is enhanced by the use of fresh strawberries, the process seems to be no less difficult and mysterious than making neon red goo. (Anyway, you really should watch the parody if you haven’t seen it yet.)
A real, original daiquiri is not created in a laboratory and cannot boast a table of contents of ingredients. It’s actually a three-ingredient powerhouse of the genre: lime juice, sugar, rum. So simple. So divine. It really has nothing to hide behind, and this is where its execution can seem deceptively simple. But a daiquiri is to any experienced bartender what an omelette is to any experienced chef. When you taste a drink made with quality rum and freshly squeezed juice, shaken with a large rock of ice and strained into a chilled coupe, you might be tempted to see what all the fuss about craft cocktails is all about. Throw in fresh seasonal strawberries and you, like me now, might even find the chef kissing the air just by thinking about it.
But, of course, I have already told you how I feel about whipped cocktails if I have to make them for myself. So here’s a modified but no less enjoyable version of this very tasty drink that I hope will become my favorite this summer. Instead of shaking and straining in a coupe, I prefer to strain it over cracked ice, which cuts down on shaking time and manual labor. As always, treat this as a template and don’t be scared if you have to improvise. Substitute raspberries for strawberries, or add two sugar cubes or a tablespoon of sugar if you can’t make a simple syrup. Try it with dark rum if you don’t have light rum, etc.
strawberry daiquiri
- 1-2 strawberries, chopped
- 1 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
- ¾ oz. simple syrup
- 2 ounces light rum
Place the strawberry slices in a shaker and stir. Add other ingredients, fill shaker with ice, shake quickly and strain over fresh ice (if possible cracked) into a chilled rocks glass.