El Presidente

Ingredients

1 Teaspoon Orange curaçao
1 Part White rum
1 Part White vermouth
1 Splash Grenadine syrup
1 Orange twist - for garnish

Glass: Cocktail

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Instructions

Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice and stir until the drink is sufficiently chilled. Strain the drink into the chilled Cocktail glass. Garnish with the Orange twist.

Notes

The El Presidente cocktail is a Cuban alcoholic drink made of rum, orange curaçao, vermouth, and grenadine. The original recipe calls for blanc vermouth.

Some believe it is the only bona fide classic cocktail that is supposed to use harder to find blanc vermouth (Chambéry vermouth) and is frequently mismade with dry vermouth. While variations are made using other orange liqueurs than curaçao, the drink is traditionally meant to be red in color, so blue curaçao should not be used. The red comes from red curaçao, or when paler colors are used, from the grenadine.

See more four ingredient cocktails.

El Presidente origin story

The El Presidente earned its acclaim in Havana during the 1920s through the 1940s during the American Prohibition. It quickly became the preferred drink of the Cuban upper class.

There are two rival stories of who the cocktail is named after. One is Mario García Menocal, President from 1913-1921. The other is Gerardo Machado, who was a General and also President from 1925-1933.

There are also multiple claims as to the invention of the cocktail. One story is that it was American bartender Eddie Woelke, who named it after Gen. Menochal after moving to Havana. Another claim is that it was invented as early as 1915 in Cuba, 5 years before Woelke set foot on the Malecón in 1920. This premise if true is even further debated, as either being invented at the Vista Alegre (a Havana establishment frequented by Americans), or by Pres. Menocal himself.

Country: Cuba
Decade: 1920s

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About the ingredients

Vermouth: Vermouth is an aromatized fortified wine, flavoured with various botanicals (roots, barks, flowers, seeds, herbs, and spices) and sometimes colored. The modern versions of the beverage were first produced in the mid to late 18th century in Turin, Italy. While vermouth was traditionally used for medicinal purposes, it was later served as an apéritif, with fashionable cafés in Turin serving it to guests around the clock. In the late 19th century, it became popular with bartenders as a key ingredient for cocktails, such as the martini, the Manhattan, the Rob Roy, and the Negroni. In addition to being consumed as an apéritif or cocktail ingredient, vermouth is sometimes used as an alternative to white wine in cooking. Historically, there have been two main types of vermouth: sweet and dry. Responding to demand and competition, vermouth manufacturers have created additional styles, including extra-dry white, sweet white (blanc or bianco), red (rosso), amber (ambre), and rosé. Vermouth is produced by starting with a base of neutral grape wine or unfermented wine must. Each manufacturer adds additional alcohol and a proprietary mixture of dry ingredients, consisting of aromatic herbs, roots, and barks, to the base wine, base wine plus spirit, or spirit only – which may be redistilled before adding to the wine or unfermented wine must. After the wine is aromatized and fortified, the vermouth is sweetened with either cane sugar or caramelized sugar, depending on the style. Italian and French companies produce most of the vermouth consumed throughout the world.
Grenadine syrup: Grenadine is a commonly used nonalcoholic bar syrup characterized by its deep red color. It is a popular cocktail ingredient renowned for its flavor as well as ability to give a reddish or pink tint to mixed drinks and is traditionally made from pomegranate.
Rum: Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Philippines, where Tanduay is the largest producer of rum globally