9 Daiquiri Twists to Try Today

Mango Brava Daiquiri — Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

Nearly all bar pros and cocktail enthusiasts would agree that the classic Daiquiri, a mix of rum, lime juice, and simple syrup, is among the greatest cocktails ever created. It’s one of the standard litmus tests for bartenders, since their skill at crafting one is a clear window into their abilities.

The Daiquiri’s formula can be traced back to 1740, when British Admiral Edward "Old Grog" Vernon attempted to reduce the raucousness of naval officers due to their excessive rum-drinking habits by diluting their rum rations with water and lime juice. Later, in the late 19th century, a similar combination of ingredients appeared in Cuba in the form of the Canchánchara, a mix of rum, lime, honey, and water. Both origin stories are said to be influential in the creation of the classic Daiquiri as we now know it, a recipe credited to Jennings Cox, an American engineer and iron miner in Cuba who created the cocktail for guests near a Cuban beach named Daiquiri.

It’s a cocktail that lends itself to near-endless riffs. These are nine fun twists to try.

Banana Daiquiri

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

This cocktail has a cult following in bartending circles for good reason. The simple mix of rum, banana liqueur (Giffard Banane du Brésil and Tempus Fugit crème de banane are your best options), freshly squeezed lime juice, and demerara syrup produces a delicious drink that’s bursting with rich tropical flavors.

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Hemingway Daiquiri

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

Named after the American novelist who spent most of the 1930s in a hotel in Havana, this cocktail started out very differently from its modern iteration and was refined over time. As the story goes, Hemingway was at Havana’s famed El Floridita cocktail bar and noticed the bartender setting up Daiquiris on the bar. After sampling one, his feedback was: Double the rum and lose the sugar. That original formula was unbalanced, but the cocktail evolved into a mix of rum, maraschino liqueur, and lime and grapefruit juices.

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Strawberry Daiquiri

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

When this oft-maligned cocktail employs fresh ingredients, it’s a game-changer. Rum, lime juice, simple syrup, and several ripe strawberries can either be combined with ice and blended until smooth or shaken with the strawberries first being muddled with the syrup. Regardless of whether you go with frozen or shaken, with fresh berries and freshly squeezed lime juice, this misunderstood classic is a true delight.

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Daiquiri No. 6

Sharon Pye

If you swapped out maraschino liqueur in favor of dark crème de cacao in the Hemingway Daiquiri and gave it all a spin in the blender, you’d have yourself a Daiquiri No. 6. Aged rum, dark crème de cacao, lime juice, a whole grapefruit, and sugar are blended with ice before being poured into an Old Fashioned glass rimmed with a smoked salt. Multiply the recipe by four and make a larger batch if you’re drinking with others: It’s a sophisticated crowd-pleaser.

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Deadbeat Daiquiri

Sharon Pye

This recipe from Jeff "Beachbum" Berry's Latitude 29 in New Orleans doesn’t skimp on the number of ingredients. Aged rum, maraschino and coconut liqueurs, lychee nuts, lime juice, simple syrup, and chocolate bitters are blended together with fine ice until smooth before being served in a classic Pearl Diver cocktail glass. It’s perhaps one of those drinks that demonstrate why bars exist—few home bartenders will want to attempt this one themselves—but it’s perfect for the ambitious cocktail enthusiast.

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Golden Glove

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

This drink is one of the lesser-known Cuban classics that can be traced back to the “Bar La Florida” recipe booklet, published in 1935 by Constante Ribalaigua Vert, the owner of the famous El Floridita bar in Havana, Cuba. Its recipe is simple: Mix a lightly aged rum Cointreau, lime juice, and sugar; shake and serve over crushed ice.

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White Lion

Farrah Skeiky

This riff was created by bartender Lukas B. Smith at Washington, D.C.’s Cotton & Reed, a distillery with a cocktail bar in the tasting room. Using the distillery’s own white rum as the base and a splash of its allspice dram, this cocktail makes for a cold-weather-appropriate Daiquiri, with notes of baking spices and molasses.

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Torrents of Summer

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

Created by the team at Kingfish in New Orleans, this take on the Daiquiri pulls inspiration from various classic Daiquiri riffs. Bacardí Maestro de Ron gets shaken with maraschino liqueur, ginger shrub, lime juice, and Angostura bitters. The resulting cocktail boasts an unusual yet familiar flavor profile of gently spicy tropical tastes.

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Mango Brava Daiquiri

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

In this drink, the rum is infused with dried mango before being mixed with the usual lime juice and simple syrup. While fresh mango could be used, dried mango works particularly well: It's much easier to measure out than cutting chunks off of a core, the spirit pulls the essence of the fruit’s flavor rather than something muted and muddled, and the dried fruit is sugary concentrate which means that it’ll impart considerable flavor to the spirit in a relatively short amount of time. You can do the same with other dried fruits such as pineapple, banana, and so on, but mango is the perfect place to start.

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9 Daiquiri Twists to Try Right Now