Rum

Daiquiri No. 4 (Floridita)

Name: Daiquiri No. 4 (Floridita)
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Coupe

Constante's frozen Daiquirí with maraschino, the most-ordered Floridita pour and the technical parent of the Hemingway.

rum cuban classic pre-tiki blended frozen lime daiquiri-variant

Ingredients

fresh lime juice (0.5 oz)
simple syrup (0.5 oz)
maraschino liqueur (1 barspoon)
white Cuban-style rum (2 oz)
crushed ice (0.75 cup)
lime wheel (1)

No. 4 is what Constante built once electric blenders reached Havana in the 1930s, the same rum-lime-sugar bones as No. 1, plus a barspoon of Luxardo maraschino, all whipped with shaved ice in a Waring blender to a fine slushy texture.¹ The maraschino is the signature: a few drops of cherry-pit perfume that lifts the drink without sweetening it past balance. This is the technical parent of the Hemingway / Papa Doble (No. 3), same frozen technique, same maraschino, but No. 4 keeps the sugar in and the grapefruit out, which is why it remained the house's most-ordered drink long after Hemingway's double-strength variant became famous.¹^,² The 1935 spec is essentially the modern spec: a hair under 2 oz light rum, 0.5 oz lime, 0.5 oz simple, a barspoon of maraschino, blended with crushed ice.³

Brand recommendations. Best: Havana Club 3 Año (where legal) or Caña Brava for the white Cuban-style rum, Luxardo Maraschino (canonical for Floridita), fresh-squeezed lime. Economical: Bacardi Carta Blanca or Don Q Cristal, Maraska Maraschino as an acceptable substitute, standard simple syrup.

Instructions

In a blender combine fresh lime juice, simple syrup, maraschino liqueur, white Cuban-style rum, and crushed ice.
Blend on high for until slushy.
Pour unstrained into a chilled coupe.
Garnish with a lime wheel.

Sources

Berry, Potions of the Caribbean (2014), Floridita / Ribalaigua chapter, documents Constante's electric-blender adoption in the 1930s, the numbered Daiquirí catalog (No. 1 through No. 5), and the No. 4 / No. 3 distinction (the Papa Doble drops the sugar and adds grapefruit). ↩
Cate & Cate, Smuggler's Cove (2016), Daiquiri entry, corroborates the No. 4 / Hemingway distinction and the maraschino as the No. 4 signature. ↩
El Bar la Florida Cocktails (1935), the Floridita's house book, source of the period spec; current spec also documented at Difford's Guide, https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/955/daiquiri-no-4-floridita (accessed 2026-05-03). ↩