Hotel Nacional Special

Aperitivo/aperitif · Classic/vintage · Elevenses/afternoon

4.2 140 ratings

Ingredients

How to make

Flavour profile

16.9% alc./vol. · 1.5 standard drinks · 190 calories

History

This drink is a sophisticated take on the classic Daiquiri, featuring fresh pineapple and apricot liqueur. The original Hotel Nacional appears to have used a charcoal-filtered light white rum. However, in his influential 1939 travel log, Charles H. Baker stated, "We indicate Gold Label Bacardi for the simple reason that Carta Blanca is so delicate in flavour it barely comes through any rich drink." This cocktail does benefit from a more robust rum; the writer adds a splash of grassy agricole rum if available. The minty pineapple notes of Daiquiri Bitters are also a fine complement to this cocktail.

This cocktail, serving as the signature drink of Havana's renowned Hotel Nacional de Cuba and Casino Nacional, emerged around the period of the hotel's 1930 inauguration. The hotel's extravagant grandeur drew in high society and celebrities, including figures such as Ava Gardner and Nat King Cole, alongside mobsters like "Lucky" Luciano. The opening of such a hotel just off the US coast during the height of Prohibition attracted several of America's most skilled bartenders, among them Will (or Wil) P. Taylor, Eddie Woelke, and Fred Kaufman. All three of these individuals have been credited with originating the Hotel Nacional Special, and it is plausible they each contributed to its creation. However, Charles H. Baker's 1939 publication, The Gentleman's Companion, attributes the cocktail to Wil P. Taylor, who served as manager at the Hotel Nacional from 1931 to 1933, describing it as "one of the three finest Bacardi drinks known to science." Included as the primary and leading entry in the "Cuban Concoctions" amendment of Albert Stevens Crockett's 1935 Old Waldorf Astoria Book is the "National." This recipe, along with the subsequent "other Havana recipes," was provided by "Will P. Taylor, manager of the Hotel National in Havana." The recipe provided is: "NATIONAL Equal parts of Bacardi and Pineapple Juice Squeeze of Lemon Dash of Apricot Brandy Ice; shake; strain" Charles H. Baker's extensive notation reads: "ASTORIA WIL P. TAYLOR'S HOTEL NACIONAL SPECIAL, which, along with the TROPICAL DAIQUIRI & the SANTIAGO de CUBA MINT JULEP is ONE of the THREE FINEST BACARDI DRINKS KNOWN to SCIENCE. Who, who knows his Havana, does not know, or has not heard of, Wil Taylor. We met him back in 1931 when in charge of World Cruise Publicity for Hamburg-American Line, and got into Havana one time in 1933 just after they had mighty near blasted a marvellous hotel off the map, to get at those Machado-phile officers hiding there. And Taylor kept right on managing just as if it had been old times! . . . But that time with pineapples sounding off all night along the Prado, we elected to stick to the old downtown Plaza, what with wife and child, but that did not prevent our remembering with great pleasure Taylor's own Bacardi concoction. . . . It is "mighty lak" a Mary Pickford, but still not, as the latter omits her limes." The specific measures from this source are: "Carta de Oro Bacardi, 1 jigger Lime, juice ½ Fresh pineapple juice, 1 jigger Dry apricot brandy, 1 tsp Shake with cracked ice, strain, serve in a tall cocktail glass with a stem. . . . We indicate Gold Label Bacardi for the simple reason that Carta Blanca is so delicate in flavour it barely comes through any rich drink." In his 1936 volume, The Barman's Mentor, Eddie Woelke, another of the distinguished trio of bartenders, stated that he was the original creator of the "Nacional" cocktail. His recipe called for half a jigger each of white rum and pineapple juice, complemented by two dashes apiece of apricot brandy and lime juice.

Also known as Hotel Nacional Daiquiri, The Nacional Cocktail and simply Nacional