The El Presidente is a decidedly Cuban cocktail, perfect on cool days in the Spring or Fall… or hell, whenever.
Like the telephone, Model T, or cassette tapes, it’s a cocktail whose best days have passed. There are very, very few bartenders who can make it anymore. Most wouldn’t even try, instead meeting you with a blank stare and a beer menu.
A moment of truth: I’ve had variations of this drink, but who can know what the authentic taste is unless you find yourself in an old throwback bar in Havana? For that reason alone, Cuba just moved up my travel list.
It became the preferred drink of the Cuban upper class and those Americans who could afford to skirt the laws of Prohibition (1920-1933) by visiting the Las Vegas of the Caribbean: Havana, Cuba.
Author Wayne Curtis, who wrote an excellent article on the disappearing act of correctly mixed cocktails, called Prohibition the dark ages for drinks in America where “Americans not only lost the knowledge of making sophisticated drinks, but they forgot what a good cocktail tasted like.”
“Americans not only lost the knowledge of making sophisticated drinks, but they forgot what a good cocktail tasted like.”
Wayne Curtis, “El Presidente” for LostMag.com
Most attribute Eddie Woelke with the creation of the drink, but like all good legends, no one is completely sure. Woelke supposedly named the drink for Cuban President Gerardo Machado, who reigned during most of the Prohibition years.
It made its way stateside and had a fun run where, I’m positive, most serious bartenders would have known this drink like he back of their hands. At least they would have known it as well as an Old Fashioned or Manhattan.
As noted, like any well traveled legendary drink, there are many variations depending on taste.
Some garnish with a twist of orange peel or a cherry or both. Some call strictly for Curacao. Others say Grand Marnier.
All I know is if you get the basics right, you’ll have one hell of a good cocktail, a story you can share at a party, and a call back to all lost and forgotten things.
