My Cuban Cocktail Recipe Book (2000); Bacardi

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BACARDI

   The Bacardi Building ("Edificio Bacardi") was near my hotel.  It's an impressive landmark building, and it's being renovated.  In Cuba, that could take forever.
   I walked by, and then stepped inside.
   I was a sad sight.  Bacardi still exists; it should have its own building.

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MY CUBAN COCKTAIL RECIPE BOOK
by Ramon Pedreira Rodriguez
84 pages, paperback, $6
Editorial Arte y Literatura, Havana
First English-language edition: 1997
Second English-language edition: 2000

   I bought the 1998 Spanish edition for $4, then saw the English language edition for the first time at the airport just as I was leaving Cuba.

Pg. 43:  ALMENDARES...
   This cocktail was named after a famous Havana hotel located on the banks of the Almendares river in the 1920s.
         ALTA COCINA (HAUTE CUISINE)...
   Alta Cocina was the school of gastronomy where Cuban technicians were trained in the 1960s.  It was located in the premises of the Tropicana nightclub.
Pg. 44:  ARCO IRIS (RAINBOW)...
         ARENAS DE ORO (GOLDEN SANDS)...
Pg. 45:  AVISPA (WASP)...
         BABALU
(Ricky Ricardo never met my tour group--ed.)
Pg. 46:  BARACOA ESPECIAL (BARACOA SPECIAL)...
         BELLOMONTE...
Pg. 47:  BESO (KISS)...
         BOLA ROJA (RED BALL)...
Pg. 48:  BRUJA BLANCA (WHITE WITCH)...
         BUENAS NOCHES (GOOD NIGHT)...
Pg. 49:  CABALLITO (LITTLE PONY)...
         CACIQUE (CHIEFTAIN)...
Pg. 50:  CANCHANCHARA...
         CARIBENO (CARIBBEAN)...
         COCTEL CUBANO (CUBAN COCKTAIL)...
Pg. 51:  COCTEL INFANTIL (COCKTAIL FOR CHILDREN)...
   This cocktail was created for children and teetotallers.
         COLONIAL...
   This cocktail was the hallmark of El Colonial, on Prado Avenue, one of the oldest and most exclusive restaurants in Havana.
Pg. 52:  XIII CONGRESSO (13TH CONGRESS)...
   This cocktail won the contest held on the occasion of the 13th Congress of the Cuban workers.
Pg. 53:  CONTACTO (CONTACT)...
   This cocktail was named after and dedicated to a famous Cuban TV show.
         COSTA SUR (SOUTH COAST)...
   This cocktail is the hallmark of the Costa Sur Hotel, in the city of Trinidad.
Pg. 54:  CUBA BELLA (BEAUTIFUL CUBA)...
   The Cuba Bella cocktail won the first prize in a contest held in the 1960s.
         CUBA LIBRE...
   "Viva Cuba Libre" (Long Live Free Cuba) was the war cry of the _mambises_--the combatants of the independence army--who fought to free Cuba from the Spanish colonial yoke in the wars of independence waged from 1868 to 1878 and from 1885 to 1898.  Cuba Libre was one of the first cocktails to be mixed by Cuban bartenders.  Despite the fact--or perhaps due to it--that it is a simple formula, it has attained worldwide fame.
Pg. 55:  CUBANITO...
Pg. 56:  CUBATABACO...
   CUBATABACO is also the name of the export enterprise in charge of commercializing the superb Havana cigars.
         CHAPARRA...
   This is an old Cuban cocktail, dedicated to the famous Chaparra sugar mill.
Pg. 57:  CHICLET'S...
         DAIQUIRI FRAPPE...
   This cocktail was created at the Daiquiri mines, located in Cuba's easternmost region, by an engineer who suffered from the intense heat that characterizes the area.  Years later--in 1920--it was improved by Constantino Ribalaigua, known as Constante, the famous bartender at the Floridita bar in Havana.  This is the exquisite and worldwide famous cocktail that Hemingway always drank at the Floridita, which he described in his novel _Islands in the Stream_.
Pg. 58:  DAIQUIRI NAURAL (DAIQUIRI AU NATUREL)...
         DAIQUIRI PLATANO (BANANA DAIQUIRI)...
Pg. 59:  DAIQUIRI DE PINA (PINEAPPLE DAIQUIRI)...
         DAIQUIRI REBELDE (REBEL DAIQUIRI)...
   Rebel Daiquiri takes its name after the cocktail's olive-green hue, which is the color of the Cuban Armed Forces' uniform.  It was created in 1959, after the triumph of the Revolution.
Pg. 60:  ENROQUE (CASTLING)...
   This cocktail was created on the occasion of the Capablanca (My hero--ed.) In Memoriam Chess Tournaments, held in Cuba for many years since the 1960s.
         ERNEST HEMINGWAY ESPECIAL (ERNEST HEMINGWAY SPECIAL)...
   This cocktail has no sugar.  That is how the famous writer liked to drink it at the Floridita restaurant's bar.
Pg. 61:  ENSALADA DE FRUTAS (FRUIT SALAD)...
   This cocktail is welcomed by teetotallers on hot summer afternoons.
         ESPERANZA (HOPE)...
Pg. 62:  FLAMENCO...
   In the 1960s, this cocktail was the hallmark of the famous Flamenco Bar at the Sevilla Hotel.
         FLAMINGO...
   This cocktail represented the Flamingo Hotel in Havana.
Pg. 63:  FLORIDITA ESPECIAL (FLORIDITA SPECIAL)...
         FOGATA (BONFIRE)...
Pg. 64:  GINEBRA COMPUESTA (GIN MIX)...
   When ice was not yet manufactured in Cuba, this cocktail was very popular among cardrivers, who drank it in the early morning.  Currently, the flavor of angostura and the freshness of the "cooling stone," like someone once called ice, have turned this cocktail into a veritable delight.
         HAVANA CLUB...
         HAVANA ESPECIAL (HAVANA SPECIAL)...
Pg. 65:  HAVANNA ROCA (HAVANA ROCK)...
   This cocktail was specially created for the restaurant La Roca (The Rock), in Havana.
         HASTA LUEGO (SO LONG)...
Pg. 66:  IDEAL...
   This cocktail was very popular in restaurants' bars in the 1950s.
         ISLA AZUL (BLUE ISLAND)...
Pg. 67:  ISLA DE PINOS (ISLE OF PINES)...
   The Isle of Pines is currently called the Isle of Youth.  It is said it was the island that inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write his novel _Treasure Island_.
Pg. 68:  JAI ALAI...
   This cocktail was very popular among professional jai alai players since colonial times.
         LIMONADA CLARETE (CLARET LEMONADE)...
         LOBO DE MAR (OLD SALT)...
Pg. 69:  MARY PICKFORD...
   Although this cocktail was named after the famous North American actress, it was created in Cuba.
(NOT IN OED?--ed.)
         MOJITO...
   This cocktail, together with the Cuba Libre and the Daiquiri, ranks among the most famous Cuban cocktails.  It is a very popular drink among the patrons and visitors of Havana's restaurant La Bodeguita del Medio.
(NOT IN OED?  NOT IN MERRIAM-WEBSTER?--ed.)
Pg. 70:  MULATA...
         NINA BONITA...
   Nina Bonita is the name of a well known cattle breeding center in Cuba.
Pg. 71:  NUBE ROSADA (PINK CLOUD)...
         OIP (INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISTS' ORGANIZATION)...
   This cocktail won the first prize in a contest held on the occasion of the Congress of the International Journalists' Organization held in Cuba in the 1960s.
Pg. 72:  PALOMA BLANCA (WHITE DOVE)...
         PECHO DE DONCELLA (MAIDEN'S BOSOM)...
Pg. 73:  PETALO (PETAL)...
         PINARENO...
   Guayabita del Pinar is a liquor produced only in the westernmost Cuban province of Pinar del Rio.
(I visited the factory.  My group didn't much care for the stuff.  The sweet is slightly better than the dry, IMHO--ed.)
Pg. 74:  PINERITO...
         PONCHE DE FRUTAS (FRUIT PUNCH)...
         PRESIDENTE (PRESIDENT)...
Pg. 75:  PRESIDENTE DULCE (SWEET PRESIDENT)...
         PRESIDENTE SECO (DRY PRESIDENT)...
Pg. 76:  PRIMERO DE MAYO (FIRST OF MAY)...
         PUNCH DEAUVILLE...
   This cocktail represents the famous Deauville Hotel, located on the Malecon, Havana's seaside drive.
Pg. 77:  RESCATE (RESCUE)...
Pg. 78:  SANTIAGO...
         SAOCO...
Pg. 79:  SIERRA ORIENTAL (EASTERN SIERRA)...
Pg. 80:  SOLDADOR (WELDER)...
         SOL Y SOMBRA (SUNSHINE AND SHADOW)...
         TESOROR (TREASURE)...
Pg. 81:  TIPICO (TYPICAL)...
         TORONJIL (GRAPEFRUIT BALM)...
         TRICONTINENTAL...
   This cocktail won the prize awarded in a competition held in Cuba in the 1960s to choose the cocktail that would represent the gastronomy sector at the Tricontinental Conference, in which figures from Asia, Africa and Latin America participated.
Pg. 82:  TROPICAL...
Pg. 83:  TROPICANA ESPECIAL (TROPICANA SPECIAL)...
   This cocktail was named after the famous Tropicana nightclub, also known as Paradise Under the Stars.
         TURQUINO...
   This cocktail was named after the highest mountain in the Cuban archipelago.  Turquino is in Cuba's easternmost region.
Pg. 84:  VARADERO (VARADERO BEACH)...