Bacardi Cocktail

A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for the classic Daiquiri. So today, I thought I’d mix up that other rum cocktail that often gets confused with the daiquiri – the Bacardi. You’re probably thinking “Jenn, that’s a brand of rum”. And you’d be right. But trust me, it’s also a cocktail.

The Bacardi does often get confused with the daiquiri though, because their ingredients are so similar. The Daiquiri has rum, lime juice and Gomme syrup, where the Bacardi has rum, lime juice and Grenadine. You can see why they often get mixed up – they only differ by one ingredient. But it’s that one ingredient that makes all the difference in both taste and appearance.

The daiquiri has a full bodied sweetness that comes from the Gomme. Where the Bacardi is a much tarter cocktail because it substitutes the Gomme for a simple splash of grenadine. Although some may believe the grenadine was added to give the cocktail a sweeter flavor, it was actually added to give the drink it’s pretty pink hue, thereby changing it just enough to create a brand new cocktail that would guarantee its ingredients.

See, when Prohibition ended many bars in the States served the Cocktail with rums that weren’t Bacardi. One such establishment was the Barbizon Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. Bacardi got wind of this and sued the hotel. So in 1936, the New York Supreme Court ruled that a Bacardi Cocktail must contain Bacardi rum. If you wanted a different rum, you had to order a different drink. The same holds true today.

Bacardi Cocktail

Ingredients:

•  2 oz. Bacardi light rum
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 teaspoon Grenadine

Directions:

1. Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously for one minute and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Serve immediately.