Original Recipe: Blood Orange Daiquiri

In the last few posts, I’ve focused on blood orange.  First I offered the Desert Orange, a “margarita for winter” of sorts.  Next I featured the Blood Moon Cocktail, a light and somewhat spicy drink for enjoying astronomical events or really any occasion.  And in my post previewing March cocktail events in the District, I promised a recipe featuring an edible hibiscus garnish.  This is that post.  To help put you in the mood for spring I offer you a blood orange daiquiri:

The daiquiri has a special significance for me.  It was nearly a decade ago at the Columbia Room – when it was still just a backroom in the old Passenger – that Derek Brown first taught me (and a roomful of other guests) how to make one according to the traditional recipe:  2 ounces of aged rum, and 3/4 ounces each of simple syrup and lime juice.

It was life-altering.  I had taken a bartending class in college, where we learned that daquiris were frozen drinks made with rail rum and sour syrup.  The traditional recipe was so much better, and it re-awakened my interest in mixing drinks.

So I thought it fitting to celebrate the arrival of spring with a fresh take on the classic that marked a spring of sorts in my drink-crafting hobby.  I started with aged rum (Appleton 12-year) and used freshly squeezed blood orange juice in place of the usual lime.  Blood orange juice is sweeter than lime juice of course, so I dialed back the sugar.  (In this case, the syrup was hibiscus flower syrup, about which more in a minute.)  I also added Campari and Calvit’s Tomatillo-Tamarind-Hibiscus shrub.

The garnish has two parts.  The base is a blood orange wheel, placed horizontally on top of the crushed ice that fills the glass.  On top, I placed an edible hibiscus flower from Wild Hibiscus Flower Co., which offers the flowers in syrup (which, as I noted above, I used as a substitute for simple syrup).  Although it isn’t depicted above, I also added a paper straw.  (The garnish looks great but isn’t easy to sip around.)

I had a lot of fun with this drink.  As daiquiris tend to do for me, this one went down fast.  Let me know what you think!

Here’s the recipe:

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Blood Orange Daiquiri

Urge spring forward with this blood orange daiquiri, featuring rum, Campari, blood orange and hibiscus, and garnished with a hibiscus flower that anticipates the coming season.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Sour

Prep Time 6 minutes minutes

Total Time 6 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 225kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz. aged rum
• 1/2 oz. Campari
• 1 oz. freshly squeezed blood orange juice
• 1/4 oz. Calvit's Tomatillo-Tamarind-Hibiscus Drinking Shrub
• 1/4 oz. Wild Hibiscus Flower Co. syrup
• 1 dash Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
• 1 dash Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Cocktail Shrub
• blood orange wheel
• Wild Hibiscus Flower Co. edible hibiscus flower

Instructions

• Combine the rum, Campari, juice, shrubs, syrup and bitters in a shaking tin and set aside.
• Fill a rocks glass with crushed ice.
• Add ice to the shaking tin, shake contents vigorously and strain into the rocks glass.
• Garnish by laying a blood orange wheel horizontally atop the drink and placing an edible hibiscus flower on top of the wheel.
• Add a paper straw, trimmed as necessary.