# Cuban Cocktails **URL:** \ **Category:** Cocktails and mixed drinks\ **Created:** [June 8, 2025, 12:58pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064 "2025-06-08T12:58:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/martin/32/777_2.png) [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2025, 12:58pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/1 "2025-06-08T12:58:48Z")
So these are perhaps the “big ones”: - Daiquiri - Mojito/Mojo - Cuba Libre These seem to be the “kind of famous ones” ones: - Bacardí - Chaparra (maybe) - El Presidente - Floridita / Florida - Mary Pickford - Sloppy Joe’s (maybe) Hilario Sanchez provides this entire list in his 1948 _El Arte del Cantinero_, including recipes for most: 1930 A Pie Almendares Aperital Auto Bacardí Bacardí Old-Fashioned Bacardí-Dubonnet Bacardí-Vermouth (dulce) Bacardí-Vermouth (seco) Berry [probably actually “Barry”] Bowman Bowman-Bacardí Caballito Caffery Café Caledonia Casiano Casino Chaparra Chocolate Colonial Country Club Cuba Libre Cuban Blossom Cuban Bronx Cuban Clover Club Cuban Coronation Cuban Manhattan Cuban Prince Cuban Rose Daiquirí Delio Núñez Dorothy Gish El Mundo Elíxir Florida Florida Special Forestier Granadine Guggenheim Habana Beach Habana Special Habana Yacht Club Havana Opera Ideal Isle of Pines Jai Alay Jaimanitas Largo Llerandi Lobo de Mar Longines Maragato Mary Pickford Mendieta Mofuco Mojito Monjita Méndez Méndez Vigo Nacional Obispo Ojén Panchito Paraíso Perfecto Playa Plaza Plus Café Presidente Remero Special René Morales Robin Ron Punch Santa Marta Sevillana Sloppy Joe’s Tango Tequila Urruela Vermouth Batido Yacht Club It’s a lot to wade through, and that list is hardly exhaustive, although it also includes some drinks where the connection to Cuba is unclear. His own book contains unusual and fascinating recipes that don’t make the list. I’ve established this topic in anticipation of many things to discuss beneath the umbrella. ---
**Author:** ![martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/martin/32/777_2.png) [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2025, 1:12pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/2 "2025-06-08T13:12:40Z")
And I’ll start! The Isle of Pines makes appearance here and there in English sources, generally as a Daiquiri made with grapefruit. I’ve seen it as early as in Cocktails by “Jimmy”, 1930. ![2025-06-08 at 9.03 AM](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/b/b6fe61967d34abeee5ef80fdad740897d4e4144d.jpeg) I’ve also seen alleged recipes online veering off into all kinds of directions (adding vermouth), including complete insanity (peppermint schnapps). The drink appears to originally be a Cuban drink referencing a Cuban island once known as the Isla de Pinos and currently named the Isla de Joventud. Here’s the recipe Sanchez offers in 1948: ![2025-06-08 at 8.59 AM](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/8/8f35325b5318270a7fca80375516ce91e64961fd.jpeg) Five drops of… _lager_? If that’s correct, well, … interesting! I haven’t found an earlier source. ---
**Author:** ![martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/martin/32/777_2.png) [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2025, 2:04pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/3 "2025-06-08T14:04:18Z")
Also, this could be an overlooked gem, although I might want to rebalance it: ![CleanShot 2025-06-08 at 10.00.33@2x](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/1/1b17ce74e3aea3547707601d7374c3f82b2d353a.jpeg) > 1/4 grapefruit juice > 1/4 maraschino liqueur > 1/2 rum [presumably Cuban] > drops of triple sec > Shake/strain into cocktail glass rimmed with grapefruit juice and sugar Most likely named for Pico Turquino, the highest point in Cuba. ---
**Author:** ![slye](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/slye/32/739_2.png) [@slye](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/slye)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/4 "2025-06-08T18:14:40Z")
What do you make of “drops” of triple sec here? I’m always a little perplexed when a relatively mild liqueur is deployed in tiny amount in old recipes. Usually it’s “dashes,” but can such a small amount really have a substantial effect on a cocktail with other assertive ingredients in larger quantities? ---
**Author:** ![martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/martin/32/777_2.png) [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2025, 6:40pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/5 "2025-06-08T18:40:01Z")
Unsure. An A:B test may be required. ---
**Author:** ![Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/splificator/32/89_2.png) [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/6 "2025-06-08T20:03:20Z")
THis is an excellent start. I would promote the Presidente to the first rank, though, to reflect its very high popularity among Cubans, back in the Golden Age of Cuban mixology, and add the Airmail Special and the Green Fizz to that list, at least. The Hemingway Daiquiri should probably be edged in somehow, and the Banana Daiquiri as well (the Frozen Banana Daiquiri was a specialty of the Varadero Internacional hotel on Varadero Beach, east of Havana, which in the 1950s used to greet its guests with one). ---
**Author:** ![francois](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/francois/32/13_2.png) [@francois](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/francois)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 10:58am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/7 "2025-06-09T10:58:27Z")
Years ago I did a page by page comparison of Straub’s book and the 1930 Manual del Cantinero (the first official manual of the Club) since, as you may remember, they basically took Straub’s work and edited it. The Cuban cantineros removed 19 recipes and added 60, 48 of which appeared in that book of the first time. Among the new ones, the Side Car and the South Side but most of the rest seems Cuban. There’s quite a bit of cross0ver with Sánchez “best of”. I think the 1930 book provides quite a good picture of the state of Cuban bartending in the middle of its golden age. In bold, the ones that appeared first in that volume (info might be out of date as this list was compiled in 2013) Almendares Cocktail **A Pie Cocktail** Bowman Cocktail Caballito Cocktail Casino **Cattlin** **Chaparra** **Chic** **Colonial** Cooperstown Cocktail **Cuban Manhattan** **Daiquiri Frappé** **Diana Cocktail** **Doctor Cocktail** **Dorothy Gish** Douglas Fairbanks **El Mundo Cocktail** **Florida Special** **Forestier Cocktail** Gloria Swanson **Grape fruit Blossom** **Greta Garbo** **Hal Stevens** **Harry M Stevens** **Havana Yacht Club** **Honey Cocktail** Ideal **Jamainitas** **Leap Frog** (In Cantinero 1924, but different recipe) **Lincoln** **Largo** **Lobo de Mar** **Manhattan seco** **Maragato Special** Mary Pickford **Mendez Vigo** **Mendez** Miami **1930** **Pan American Airways** **Pearl** **Perry** **Playa** **Pogoloti** Presidente **Remero Especial** **René Morales** Roosevelt Special **Santa Marta** **Severio** **Side Car** Sloppy Joe’s Special **South Side** **Stinger Frape** **Urruela** Vermouth a la americana Vermouth batido **Winter Garden** **Rum Cooler** **Pineappel Rum Fizz** ---
**Author:** ![martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/martin/32/777_2.png) [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 12:40pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/8 "2025-06-09T12:40:40Z")
I’m guessing the “Hal Stevens” and “Harry M. Stevens” cocktails are references to the ballpark concession king? I haven’t identified a personal connection to Cuba, but baseball and hot dogs are pretty far from my interest areas. ---
**Author:** ![martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/martin/32/777_2.png) [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 4:03pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/9 "2025-06-09T16:03:54Z")
The only “Green Fizz” I’ve located is the “Green Fizz Cocktail” (in the 1929 Lasa… perhaps lightly fizzy from shaking, but evidently not an actual fizz). Was there a later phenomenon? I have miscellaneous Airmail recipes, but I’m having trouble locating a **Cuban** recipe for the _Airmail_ or _Air Mail_ or _Airmail Special_. Not sure what I’m looking for. Is there a specific Banana Daiquiri/Platano Daiquiri from the Varadero Hotel, or is it pretty much just a blender daiquiri with half a banana in it? ---
**Author:** ![martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/martin/32/777_2.png) [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 4:06pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/10 "2025-06-09T16:06:17Z")
> [@francois](#): > > In bold, the ones that appeared first in that volume (info might be out of date as this list was compiled in 2013) Huge time saver for me! Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![HHFizz](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/3e96dc/32.png) [@HHFizz](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/HHFizz)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/11 "2025-06-09T18:02:17Z")
I know the history is muddy, but would the Canchánchara be a good fit for this list? ---
**Author:** ![Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/splificator/32/89_2.png) [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 7:09pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/12 "2025-06-09T19:09:51Z")
The Green Fizz is also in Sloppy Joe’s 1931-2 and the Floridita 1934. The Airmail Special is in the 1930-1936 [?] “Bacardi and Its Many Uses” booklet: juice of half a lime, teaspoonful honey, 1.5 oz Bacardi Gold, shake, strain into highball glass, top with champagne. I don’t have a recipe from the Varadero, but I strongly suspect it is as you indicate. I do see, however, that already in 1946 a certain Don Ramon, former bartender at the Miami branch of Monte Proser’s Beachcomber, won first prize at an NYC cocktail competition with his Banana Daiquiri, so I guess we can’t consider that a settled history. Sloppy Joe’s was serving them by 1951, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/splificator/32/89_2.png) [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/13 "2025-06-09T21:34:40Z")
Ok, so Don Ramon was born Ramon Alejandro Ramsey Wolff Aboy, in Vieques, Puerto Rico; that was in 1887. He was in New York by around 1911, where he imported iron ore and apparently accumulated an impressive heap of spondulicks, which he all lost some time after World War I. In 1939, he was down in Florida, posing as Don Ramon, the “West Indies Rum King” at the Roadside Rest in Miami, where he mixed up his Grand Passion, Jealousy, L’Amour, Bit of Heaven, Hawaiian Dream and Miami Sunkist cocktails, among others. In 1940, though, he was back in New York, working as a liquor salesman for Julius Wile, the importers of, among other things, Lemon Hart rum and Ron Rey Puerto Rican rum. Then he was back in Florida, hosting and mixing drinks at one bar after another. In September, 1944, Peggy Simmonds, the night club columnist of the _Miami News_, found him with a new line of drinks: ![image](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/1/19eefb3ed11b990608817f3b1393be5e384f9b2a.jpeg) This appears to be the earliest mention of the Banana Daiquiri, and there are a couple more almost as early associating him with the drink, which he made with Ron Rey. So I guess not a Cuban cocktail after all, but a Miami Puerto Rican one. ---
**Author:** ![francois](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/francois/32/13_2.png) [@francois](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/francois)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/14 "2025-06-09T23:59:42Z")
I will elaborate on this later but Canchanchara was historically a coffee substitute and only became a cocktail in the 70s 0r early 80s. Or so it seems. ---
**Author:** ![EvanD](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/evand/32/818_2.png) [@EvanD](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/EvanD)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/15 "2025-06-10T00:55:34Z")
Later? You’ve been teasing this for six years! > [@Canchánchara - Cuba's Ur Cocktail](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/canchanchara-cubas-ur-cocktail/94): > > Punch recently published this typically frustrating article – it’s title promises one thing and the text delivers another. The Canchánchara is a great drink and Julio Cabrera’s version is excellent. It has also been pushed under a modernised format by Havana Club recently. But is it the original Cuban cocktail? You’ll fail to find any proof in the article. I actually looked into the drink two years ago and wrote a long essay on it for a magazine that unfortunately folded before publication. … ---
**Author:** ![HHFizz](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/3e96dc/32.png) [@HHFizz](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/HHFizz)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 2:59am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/16 "2025-06-10T02:59:11Z")
> [@HHFizz](#): > > the Canchánchara I saw your earlier, illuminating post on the drink @francois (I had accepted the common story for a long time so it was an eye opener for me.) I’ve also read about it on [Bar-Vademecum](https://bar-vademecum.eu/canchanchara-honeysuckle-and-honey-bee/). If the list is only for cocktails that **originated** in Cuba (or from a specific time period) then it most likely shouldn’t be included, but if it’s for cocktails that are **associated** with Cuba then it probably fits. Sort of Bloody Caesar and Canada situation. ---
**Author:** ![martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/martin/32/777_2.png) [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 11:29am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/17 "2025-06-10T11:29:52Z")
I have a hunch even Mr. Zimmermann is under-playing the molasses-honey connection. In an intensive sugar-production operation, even with distillation, nuisance byproducts will be lot more plentiful and accessible than bee honey. ---
**Author:** ![martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/martin/32/777_2.png) [@martin](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/martin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 11:58am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/18 "2025-06-10T11:58:48Z")
(Apologies to everyone else for all the digressions, below) > [@Splificator](#): > > The Green Fizz is also in Sloppy Joe’s 1931-2 and the Floridita 1934. Thanks. I don’t know how I missed those—I have them and was looking through them. > [@Splificator](#): > > The Airmail Special is in the 1930-1936 [?] “Bacardi and Its Many Uses” booklet Thank you, again. I had completely forgotten about those booklets. There’s some really peculiar stuff in them to plunder. In the Spanish booklets of the same era, the drink seems to simply called the Bacardi Aereo (Bacardi Air). Hmm. ![2025-06-10 at 8.34 AM](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/8/88601a86c6546227444dcb534ca5a1fa57245449.jpeg) I have a hunch this particular English-language pamphlet was written by the folks at Schenley. Would a Cuban recipe for the Mojito read “Same as the Bacardi Rickey with a little sugar and a few sprigs of mint”? [UPDATE: never mind, they did just that in one of the Spanish language pamphlets! Zoiks.] The Coronation Cocktail seems to have been a thing in Cuba—it comes up again and again, and that same Bacardi booklet has the weird spread with four ostensibly related drinks on it. Unless it’s well-hidden, that Rumba drink attributed to Craddock at the Savoy doesn’t seem to be in his book: ![2025-06-10 at 7.44 AM](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/8/87d18f03836302ac3ca7f675e522ece6f1ceb005.jpeg) Right below that is the “May Morn” which seems to be a straight rip off of Ensslin’s “September Morn”. The long arm of Hugo? > [@Splificator](#): > > Don Ramon, the “West Indies Rum King” … “Rum King of America” This guy is sounding rather colorful! That quote also seems to indicate that the Daiquiri has, by this juncture (WW2), spun off its parallel family of random frozen flavored drinks with no remaining ties to Cantineros and their variations. ---
**Author:** ![Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/user_avatar/spiritsandcocktails.community/splificator/32/89_2.png) [@Splificator](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/Splificator)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/19 "2025-06-10T15:14:48Z")
My bad–in the Bacardi booklet I have, in English, the drink is listed as the “Bacardi Airmail”; I suspect (at least in my brain) it became the “Airmail Special” through osmosis from the 1941 Benny Goodman/Charlie Christian hit of that name. And yeah, Wolff really does seem to have been a character. He ping-ponged around South Florida bars like a farm-league Popo Galsini until at least the end of the 1940s, before returning to Puerto Rico where he died in 1955. ---
**Author:** ![HHFizz](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/3e96dc/32.png) [@HHFizz](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/u/HHFizz)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2025, 2:34am UTC](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064/20 "2025-06-11T02:34:53Z")
Man, Harry M. Stevens is a super interesting character. As a big fan of scoring baseball games I love [his origin story](https://www.ohiomagazine.com/ohio-life/article/game-changer-the-legacy-of-harry-m.-stevens). His popularization of the hot dog vendor is also pretty interesting. Anyways doing some snooping it appears his son Hal Stevens represented his dad’s company in Florida primarily at [Hialeah Park](https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/hialeah.htm). Based on geographical closeness I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the main influence behind the naming of the cocktails in Cuba. First two clippings from the 1920s and last is from 1940. ![Racetrack_Florida_Hal_Stevens](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/e/eef1d1c75a91cbfc3c239fd8fdd1b4f0bd78d641.jpeg) ![Hal_Stevens_Big_and_Husky](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/1/15a0b8dd16491f108ec0b70b5e88437f83a41a71.jpeg) ![Hal_Stevens_and_Other_Members](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/b/b1acd45a8964312f68c54cb7d06f7b08902ba7b7.jpeg) In other Harry M. Stevens drink related news it appears they were the producers of Mint Juleps at the Kentucky Derby for many years and they produced the collectable cups they came in. In this article [on them taking over concessions at the Kentucky Derby](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-journal-hot-dogs-at-kentucky/174271909/) it also mentions that the company is associated with “Havana”. I’m assuming that means Cuba though I’m not certain as I guess it could be a name like “Jamaica” which I imagine refers to the track in Queens. ![image](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c9a8467ac7d6a7fb4806b4233fd1fa245af7cb68.jpeg) His company is also the one that created the Black-Eyed Susan as mentioned by @RobertSimonson [in this post.](https://robertsimonson.substack.com/p/little-deuce-cup-you-dont-know-what) Harry M. Stevens seems to often be credited as the creator of the drink though I think that’s likely a mistake since he was long dead before it was announced. In theory it could have been a relative with the same name, but I think the company’s name of “Harry M. Stevens Co.” is responsible for the confusion. ![Black_Eyed_Susan](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/uploads/default/original/2X/5/525b0638af323218b3a5aabcd9d606dea49dd4df.jpeg) [Next page](https://spiritsandcocktails.community/t/cuban-cocktails/1064.md?page=2)