A Jigger of Blog

The Museum of the American Cocktail is putting on an event next month celebrating the Daiquiri and its many wonderful non-strawberry, non-pomegranate variations. The seminar will be lead by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, Jon Arroyo of Agraria, Derek Brown of The Gibson, and Phil Greene. It’s a great line up of panelists and the subject

$40.00 per person pre-register
The ‘at-the-door’ fee will be $45.00.
Thursday, November 19 2009, 7:00 – 9:00
Occidental Restaurant
1475 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20004

It was 1909 when U.S. Navy Admiral Lucius Johnson introduced the Daiquiri cocktail to the United States, here in Washington at the Army-Navy Club, and the Museum of the American Cocktail is set to celebrate it. Join us at the historic Occidental Grill restaurant for a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Daiquiri’s debut. On Thursday, November 19th, Derek Brown and Phil Greene of the Museum of the American Cocktail will host a seminar on the Daiquiri, featuring renown author and Tiki expert Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, author of such books as Sippin’ Safari, Intoxica!, and Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log and local mixologist par excellence Jon Arroyo, head barman at Farmers and Fishers (formerly Agraria) and Founding Farmers, and Brand Ambassador for Cabana Cachaca.

You’ll get to sample and learn how to make the classic Daiquiri and hear tales about its storied past; you’ll hear about the evolution of the so-called Hemingway Daiquiri, as served at El Floridita in Havana; you’ll learn how the Daiquiri served as a springboard for the great Tiki movement of the 1930s and 1940s, and how it served as a platform for numerous Tiki greats; you’ll learn about the national drink of Brasil, the Caipirinha, and you’ll get to compare and contrast it with the traditional Daiquiri, and much, much more. All the while you’ll enjoy delicious appetizers from the Occidental’s great chefs.

You can register for the seminar here.

This looks like a blast. I’m not sure yet if I’ll be able to go, but I highly recommend readers give it some thought. The Daiquiri is really one of the best classic cocktails out there, but it possesses one of the most maligned and poorly managed public images. I often get strange looks from friends when I tell them daiquiri’s are one of my favorite cocktails. Once I explain that a real daiquiri is just rum, lime juice, sugar and water and that frozen bananas, strawberries, pineapples, and peaches need not apply, most people can get it. But boy do you have to get over a life time of associations with neon things at TGI Fridays… I’m sure this seminar will go a great way to giving you a solid history of the cocktail, as well as an understanding of its relationship with other prominent and less prominent cocktails. Go check it out!