Muse of Mixology title
Hotel Nacional
A few weeks ago a good friend of mine bellied up to my bar and asked if I could make a Hotel Nacional for him. Fortunately, I had the necessary ingredients and was able to….but as I was mixing it up it dawned on me that this is a cocktail that I had NOT written about! I am not sure how I skipped over it but am thrilled to tell you about one of my favorites. As with most of the historic cocktails I have the honor of writing about, this one has quite a few different stories about its origin. We know that it was invented in the early 1930’s and was named for the famous Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba. (The 1935 Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book listed it as one of the hotel’s signature cocktails). Some say it was the hotel manager, Wil P. Taylor, who first created this riff on a daiquiri…...others credit Eddie Woelke, who worked at the Casino Nacional. If you google the Hotel Nacional recipe you are going to get a whole lot of variations, and that can be quite confusing. Here are a few I found, followed by my personal recipe.
This is Woelke’s recipe, from the book “Potions of the Caribbean”:
- 1 oz. White Cuban Rum
- ¼ oz. Apricot Brandy
- 1 oz. Fresh Pineapple Juice
- ¼ oz. Fresh Lime Juice
- Shake well with ice, strain into a coupe glass.
This is from the book Gentleman’s Companion (circa 1939)
- 3 - 4 Pineapple chunks
- ¾ oz. Fresh Lime Juice
- ½ oz. Demerara Syrup
- ½ oz. Apricot Liqueur
- 1 ½ oz. Aged Rum
Hotel Nacional
In a cocktail shaker, muddle the pineapple chunks, add all liquid ingredients, and shake well with ice. Strain into a coupe glass. As you can see these two recipes couldn’t be more different! Both will taste great but they will not taste like the same drink side by side. If you have the ability, make them both and see what you like best. Here are my opinions on each of the ingredients:One rum to the next can be as different as milk and water, so I will leave this choice up to you, the reader/cocktail maker. However, I will say this: I would use a lightly aged rum, because you want the rum to be present but you don’t want it to overpower the brightness of the apricot, pineapple and lime. The key here is BALANCE. The first recipe calls for apricot brandy, the second one calls for apricot liqueur. Those two spirits are going to be night and day different and, in my opinion, the liqueur works better. Rothman and Winter makes a really nice one and it is readily accessible. This also eliminates the need for Demerara syrup, the liqueur is sweet enough. Fresh pineapple juice is ideal in this drink and it takes a little bit of work but is well worth it. Chop up a pineapple and put it into your blender or food processor, to extract all of the juice. You will have to pour it through a fine mesh screen to get all of the pulp out but the flavor is amazing and so much better than out of a can. Always use fresh lime juice, there is no substitute!!Here is my recipe, tried and true--- I hope that you will all go out and get the necessary ingredients and make this one for yourself, it is really delicious and a nice change from a traditional daiquiri. With all cocktails remember that you can adjust ratios as you see fit, if you like it a bit more tart or a touch sweeter. Enjoy!!
Cris’s Hotel Nacional
- 1 ½ oz. Havana Club 3 Años
- ½ oz. Rothman and Winter Apricot Liqueur
- ½ oz. Fresh Lime Juice
- ½ oz. Pineapple Juice
Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker, shake well with ice. Strain into a coupe glass, garnish with a chunk of fresh pineapple or piece of dried apricot.
