Hemingway Breakfast
Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 21% ABV ∙
The Hemingway Breakfast is an absinthe-rinsed rum sour built with lime, falernum, orange marmalade, and bitters, shaken and served in a coupe. Silky and bright with a tart edge, the marmalade lends a soft jammy sweetness while a faint anise whisper lingers through the crisp, citrusy finish.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Spritz Absinthe 2 ml inside the coupe glass to coat the glass
- Add remaining ingredients to shaker: White rum 50 mlLime juice 20 mlFalernum liqueur 10 mlOrange marmalade 1 bspAngostura aromatic bitters 3 dashes
- Shake with ice
- Fine strain into Absinthe-rinsed coupe glass
- Garnish with a dehydrated orange slice
Tips
- Spoon the marmalade in level rather than heaped — a barspoon of it is the whole sweetener here, and extra turns the drink jammy.
- Stir the marmalade briefly with the lime juice before shaking so it disperses instead of clumping at the bottom.
- Shake hard and fine-strain to catch the marmalade rind, keeping the texture smooth rather than pulpy.
- Pre-chill the coupe before rinsing it with absinthe — a warm glass lets the absinthe evaporate before it can coat the sides.
History
The Hemingway Breakfast is a modern competition cocktail created by Latvian bartender Eduards Trofimčuks at the Olympic Casino in Jelgava, Latvia. It won the Latvian round of the 2016 Bacardí Legacy Global Cocktail Competition, an international contest for bartenders built around Bacardí's white rum. Trofimčuks designed the drink as a riff on the classic Daiquiri, adding absinthe, falernum, orange marmalade, and aromatic bitters to a rum-and-lime base, aiming to keep the recipe simple while giving it a distinct aromatic, bittersweet character. The name nods to Ernest Hemingway, long associated with rum-based Daiquiris in Cuba, though the drink itself was not created for or by him and has no documented connection to his own drinking habits beyond the naming.
FAQ
What is in a Hemingway Breakfast?
White rum, lime juice, falernum liqueur, and orange marmalade, shaken with a dash of Angostura bitters and served in a coupe glass rinsed with absinthe. The absinthe never enters the shaker; it only coats the glass, so its flavor stays a background note rather than a dominant one.
How do you make a Hemingway Breakfast cocktail?
Spritz absinthe inside a pre-chilled coupe to coat it, then shake the white rum, lime juice, falernum, orange marmalade, and Angostura bitters hard with ice. Fine-strain into the absinthe-rinsed coupe and garnish with a dehydrated orange slice.
What is a famous Hemingway cocktail?
The best-known Hemingway-linked cocktail is the Hemingway Daiquiri, a tart rum drink made with lime and grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur, said to be a favorite of Ernest Hemingway at Havana's El Floridita bar.
