Put the Lime in the Coconut for an Easy, Make-Ahead Beach Cocktail
All you need to do in the morning is grab and go.
(Bloomberg) -- Setting a masochistically early alarm and venturing out for a full day at the beach is one of the best ways to spend a summer Saturday (or Friday). Arriving early means getting your pick of location, as well as some relative quiet on the sand before the masses descend.
But what do you do if you want to serve cocktails as well? Six a.m. is hardly the ideal time to be juicing limes, measuring ingredients, and packing up enough ice to last you the day. The solution: a dead-simple, make-ahead daiquiri you can bottle and toss in the freezer overnight. All you need to do in the morning is grab and go.
The hallmark of a well-made daiquiri is bright acidity and balanced sweetness—rum, fresh citrus, and simple syrup, that’s it—but for extra tiki flair, split the base between a conventional white rum and a coconut-infused liqueur. Coconut rums gets a bad rap for tasting like sunscreen, but Rhum Clément from the island of Martinique brings a characteristic grassy freshness of rhum agricole to their Mahina Coco unlike the mis-begotten Malibu of your youth. It’s well-worth the effort to seek out. For the white rum we prefer Flor de Caña 4 Year for its light body and relative depth of flavor next to other white rums.
To approximate the dilution you’d have gotten by shaking the daiquiri fresh with ice, add a precise amount of water before bottling. This brings the spirit mix to a lower ABV, and if you time it right, you’ll get to the beach just as the mixture is thawed enough to serve—it should be a bit slushy and stingingly cold. Try to avoid using an insulated water bottle because the drink will take forever to thaw.
Brian Miller, partner and beverage director at New York tiki bar The Polynesian, calls daiquiris the perfect beach drink, “as necessary as suntan lotion and a towel. If you can’t have fun at the beach with a daiquiri in your hand, you do not know how to have fun.”
Coconut Daiquiri To-Go
Serves 4–5
5 oz. Rhum Clément Mahina Coco
5 oz. white rum, like Flor de Caña 4 year
4 oz. fresh lime juice, about 6–7 limes
2 oz. simple syrup
8 oz. filtered water
Prepare the night ahead in a non-insulated 1-liter water bottle. Place in the freezer overnight to get slushy; remove about 2 hours before drinking. To serve, shake the bottle briefly and pour into individual glasses—or drink straight from the bottle. Keep in mind when planning your day that lime juice tastes best when used within 24 hours of juicing.
For simple syrup
Combine equal parts sugar and water in a small pot over low heat, stirring occasionally until all the sugar is dissolved. Let cool before using. Keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Justin Ocean at jocean1@bloomberg.net
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