The History
Created in the early 1930s by Constantino ‘Constante’ Ribalaigua at El Floridita in Havana for Ernest Hemingway, who allegedly drank seventeen of them in a single sitting and ordered them double—hence ‘Papa Doble.’ The original had no sugar; Ribalaigua eventually allowed a small amount of sugar in the standard menu version for normal humans. The drink became a fixture of Hemingway’s Havana years and inspired the bar’s status as a literary landmark.
Servings
Ingredients
- 2 oz white rum (Banks 5 or Probitas)
- 0.75 oz fresh lime juice
- 0.5 oz fresh grapefruit juice
- 0.25 oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice (or blender with crushed ice for the Floridita-style frozen version).
Shake hard for 10–12 seconds, or blend on high for 15 seconds.
Strain into a chilled coupe.
No garnish. Hemingway didn’t bother.