Rum

El Presidente

Name: El Presidente
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Coupe

Aged Cuban rum stirred with blanc vermouth, curaçao, and a whisper of grenadine, Havana's pre-Prohibition aperitif.

rum cuban classic stirred pre-tiki

Ingredients

grenadine (0.25 tsp)
orange curaçao (0.25 oz)
blanc vermouth (1.5 oz)
aged Cuban-style rum (1.5 oz)
ice (1 cup)
orange twist (1)

This is the 1920s canonical version with curaçao; Escalante's earlier 1915 first-printed spec was rum, blanc vermouth, and grenadine only.¹^,² Authorship is contested: the 1915 Escalante printing predates the more commonly told origin story crediting American bartender Eddie Woelke (who arrived in Havana around 1920); the drink is variously named for Cuban presidents Mario García Menocal (1913–21) or Gerardo Machado (1925–33).³

Brand recommendations. Best: Havana Club 7 (where legal) or Bacardi Heritage for the aged Cuban-style rum, Dolin Blanc or Cocchi Americano for the blanc vermouth, Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao, Small Hand Foods grenadine. Economical: Plantation 5-Year Barbados or Brugal Añejo for the rum, Noilly Prat Blanc or Martini Bianco for the vermouth, Senior Curaçao of Curaçao, BG Reynolds grenadine.

Instructions

In a mixing glass combine grenadine, orange curaçao, blanc vermouth, and aged Cuban-style rum with ice.
Stir until well chilled.
Strain into a chilled coupe.
Garnish with an orange twist.

Sources

Wondrich, Imbibe! (2007) and Wondrich's PUNCH columns on El Presidente, locate John B. Escalante's 1915 Manual del Cantinero as the earliest printed spec and document the rum + blanc vermouth + grenadine original (no curaçao). ↩
"El Presidente (cocktail)." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Presidente_(cocktail) (accessed 2026-05-03), secondary-source summary of the curaçao-added 1920s evolution; the specific John B. Escalante / Manual del Cantinero 1915 first-printing attribution comes from Wondrich's research at footnote ¹, not from Wikipedia. ↩
Curtis, And a Bottle of Rum (2006), Cuban / Havana cocktail material, discusses the Eddie Woelke / Constantino Ribalaigua / Vista Alegre attribution dispute and the drink's namesake-president ambiguity (Menocal vs. Machado). ↩