Cocktailia

Presidente

• 1 1/2 ounces white rum
• 3/4 ounce orange curacao
• 3/4 ounce dry vermouth
• Dash of grenadine

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a small cocktail glass.

This drink was created in Havana in the 1920s and named for General Carmen Menocal, the president of Cuba before Batista.

I discovered in the course of making this that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is the very first ingredient in Rose’s Grenadine, which is extremely disgusting. I don’t use grenadine very often but this made me wonder if there is something better I can substitute. A short bit of looking revealed, via Slashfood, a pomegranate-infused simple syrup available from the Sonoma Syrup Company, which is available at Williams-Sonoma. They also have a lime-infused syrup that looks like a great replacement for Rose’s Lime Juice. I promptly poured my Rose’s products down the drain.

Presidente recipe from The Craft of the Cocktail.