Last Updated on January 2, 2026

Daiquiri with White Rum, Lime and Sugar – a Simple Classic.

What makes a cocktail classic?  Most of the classic cocktails I’ve learnt to make are really simple with just a few, easy to find ingredients.  The Daiquiri, a white rum cocktail with just three ingredients is a great example.  Simple cocktails though, really work best if you use excellent, high-quality ingredients. 

At the heart of Union Rum, founder Ruben Maduro grew up on the Caribbean island of Aruba.  His aim, to introduce a new category for rum – Botanical Rum – might sound ambitious, but he’s been following that passion since 2008 – and Union Rum is now established as a leader in this emerging sector – with a distillery in Amsterdam.   Using rum and botanicals sourced from around the world, Union Rum (the name is inspired by a union between land and sea), have two flagship artisan rums.  Spice and Seasalt is based on a smooth cask-aged Barbados rum infused with five delicate spices, including Guatemalan cardamom, Madagascan cloves and vanilla for a sweet spice aroma. Peruvian cacao adds a deep richness and moreish honey-nut finish. To enhance both the taste and flavour, the rum is infused with a pinch of Añana sea salt.  

The rum that I’ve used in this Daiquiri is Lemon and Leaf.  It’s based on a Mauritian rum with distinctive grassy citrus notes which is then distilled with lemons from the Amalfi coast, Kina bark, Sarawak pepper and Sarsaparilla root, together with distilled blue eucalyptus and Sri Lankan Highland black tea to create a unique white botanical rum – the first white botanical in the world.

Now, if someone takes that much care to create a craft spirit, it’s probably going to work well in a simple, classic cocktail that allows the spirit itself to shine.  A Daiquiri seems an obvious choice – it’s a white rum cocktail which at its most basic, is just rum, simple syrup and lime juice.

The original Daiquiri was invented in Cuba by Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer working out there around the turn of the twentieth century.  It’s also the name of a beach and an iron mine near Santiago de Cuba.  It’s likely that the original Daiquiri was made with lemons too.  

From the 1930s onward the Daiquiri started to grow in popularity.  It was featured in one of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novels – in This Side of Paradise, written in 1920.  And, Ernest Hemingway created his own variation on the cocktail while he was drinking at El Floridita in Havana.  The Hemingway Daiquiri or Papa Doble is made with lime juice grapefruit and Maraschino liqueur together with a double of rum.  There’s no added sugar – a recipe adaptation because Hemingway was diabetic.

Of course, there are plenty more variations – often using fruit. Strawberry Daiquiri is a popular summer cocktail and I’ve found recipes for banana, mango and even avocado Daiquiris.  But, a simple daiquiri, with no extra ingredients is probably the best vehicle for a pure artisan rum.

Here’s the recipe for this classic white rum cocktail if you’d like to try making your own Daiquiri at home. 

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White Rum Cocktail - Daiquiri

Prep Time

5 mins

 

The classic white rum daiquiri recipe uses just three ingredients to create a refreshing cocktail

Course: Cocktail, Cocktails

Cuisine: American

Keyword: lime, Rum, sugar

Servings: 1

Calories: 183 kcal

Author: Fiona Maclean

Ingredients

• 50 ml White Rum
• 25 ml Freshly squeezed lime juice 1 lime should yield about this amount
• 10 ml Simple syrup made with equal quantities of white sugar and water, heated to dissolve the sugar then chilled
• 1 slice Lime To garnish
• Ice

Instructions

1. Fill the cocktail shaker with ice

2. Add all the ingredients except the lime slice and shake well until chilled

3. Serve in a coupe or martini glass with a slice of lime as a garnish

Nutrition Facts

White Rum Cocktail - Daiquiri

Amount Per Serving

Calories 183

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

If you’d like to try for yourself, you can buy Union Lemon & Leaf Rum online from £29.95 for 70cl (38% ABV). Available from Amazon, Master of Malt and The Whisky Exchange and Spirited Union.com. 

Or if you happen to be looking for another classic lime-based cocktail, why not try my raspberry gimlet