Ernest Hemingway's Favorite Cocktail Was Not What We Expected

It can be hard to pin down Ernest Hemingway's favorite cocktail, because the list of his preferred drinks is as long as the list of books and stories he published — but there are usually a few that come to mind. Hemingway's stories and letters are filled with detailed descriptions of his favorite bars and drinks, which shifted across his life. He would down Martinis with abandon at Harry's Bar in Venice, or enjoy an Americano elsewhere in Italy, but when most people think about Hemingway's cocktail proclivities, they think about his days in the Caribbean and Key West. 

These were the times of Daiquiris at the Floridita and, if the stories are to be believed, Mojitos at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana, Cuba. But according to researcher and author Philip Greene, author of To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion, it turns out that a famous note from the author mentioning those Mojitos was actually a forgery, and there isn't any evidence Hemingway downed Mojitos at all. Instead, in his later life, he seemed to prefer a similar cocktail called Gregorio's Rx.

Gregorio's Rx got its moniker from the skipper on Hemingway's fishing boat, Pilar, named Gregorio Fuentes. Greene notes that he created the drink as a little remedy for when Hemingway wasn't feeling well. Like a Mojito, it does use a base of rum — blonde in this case — lime juice or lemon juice, and mint. However, it swaps out sugar or simple syrup for honey, and doesn't include any soda water. Despite the mint, it's as much a Daiquiri as a Mojito, and it had its own specified preparation.

Gregorio Fuentes was quite the interesting character himself, and according to Greene, was one of the inspirations for the fisherman in Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man And The Sea." Hemingway reportedly entrusted the bartending to Fuentes during fishing trips, and his bartender was just as specific in his cocktail opinions as the author was. He believed that no drink out at sea should be held for more than a half hour, because the heat would ruin it, and he also had a specific order for making a Gregorio's Rx. 

Unlike modern recipes, which suggest making it in a shaker, Fuentes would build it in the glass. It started with 2 tablespoons of honey at the bottom, then the juice of two lemons, a mint leaf, two ice cubes, and finally, rum. It's unclear whether the lemons are actually lemons, or a mistranslation of "limón verde," which means "lime" in Spanish. But either version should be delicious. Hemingway's favorite drinks were, like the Gregorio's Rx, often variations on classic recipes. 

Unlike the Mojito lore, his love of Daiquiris has been authenticated through letters and other documents, but his preferred version, which he drank at the Floridita in Havana, was the Hemingway Daiquiri, or Papa Doble. He was also known to enjoy a simple Scotch and soda. It turns out that when you spend a full life drinking the way Hemingway did, you really learn what you like and don't like. We can't recommend following his lead, but it did gift the rest of us with some really delicious cocktails.