Most of the people I’ve served didn’t seem to know this, but Daiquiris don’t taste like strawberries by default. Also, they’re not made “frozen,” either.

The Daiquiri is a Cuban cocktail, invented a little over 100 years ago; and exactly 100 years ago, in 1909, the Daiquiri was introduced to the United States during a private party at the Army and Navy Club in Washington, D.C. It quickly became a favorite cocktail among many famous historical figures, including John F. Kennedy, Ernest Hemingway, who each have versions of the drink named after themselves.

Traditionally, Daiquiris are made by sprinkling powdered sugar over ice, then adding rum and fresh lime juice. Nowadays, in the chain restaurant era, they’re made with rum, lime juice cordial, schnapps and occassionally frozen fruit. Today, we’re doing a double-post: for those who want the original, as well as for those with more modern tastes.

Daiquiri - Recipe:

• 2 oz light rum
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• fresh lime juice

Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

Frozen Daiquiri - Recipe:

• 1 1/2 oz light rum
• 1 tbsp triple sec
• 1 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 cherry
• 1 cup crushed ice

Add all ingredients (except the cherry) into a blender and fire it up. After blending, pour contents into a margarita glass and garnish with a cherry.

Today’s a pretty big day here at Underground Bartender. We’re throwing our first giveaway, and the prize is a fancy martini set. The best part of all is - you barely have to do anything in order to win!

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment anywhere on the site (any post before and after this one is also fair game). On New Year’s Eve - the last day of the contest - we’re going to count up all of the comments made on the site since today, and then pick a number between the current amount of comments and the final tally. Then, we’ll email the person who left the comment that goes with that number, and tell them that they’re our winner! There is no limit to the amount of comments you can post; just no spamming please.

Basically, we’ll do all the work, you just leave comments, and somehow, you get a free martini set. Why? Well, why not? It’s the holidays, and we never really did anything special to celebrate the launch of the site until now. This is really just a fun way of saying thank you for being a part of our blog.

Martini Set - Contents:

• 4 Martini Glasses
• 4 Glass olive picks
• 1 Glass Shaker with stainless steel Lid
• 1 stainless steel tray

Apparently, we were having some issues with posting. We fixed it though; and we’re back on track to have regular daily posts starting tomorrow. Sorry about that, folks. We still think you’re awesome.

Welcome to Underground Bartender. The way to introduce this site upon launch that makes sense is to explain what this site is all about. Simply put, this blog is not just a drink recipe site; my goal is to teach you anything and everything the professional bartenders know; this blog will be as much about what goes into your bar as it is about what goes into your drinks.

I first learned the “art of mixology” around five years ago, and have worked at a couple of bars and quite a few parties while putting myself through college. Every now and then, I still work a party if it seems like an interesting enough event, but most of the bartending-related work I’ve been doing has been as a tutor; teaching a few well-heeled individuals how to be tend bar at their own parties. After doing this on and off for two years, I came to the understanding that there were a great many people out there, who wished to learn how to do what professional mixologists do, but only for the sake of being a better host at their own parties.

I come from a family filled with teachers, so from early on, I’ve been indoctrinated with the belief that if you know something of value, and you know how to teach, you should teach people. I’ve also been a web designer and a blogger for many years as well, so it stood to reason that I would build a blog about bartending, and use it to teach everybody who’s interested all of the finer points of bartending.

So here we are. Hope you find it as fun an interesting as I do, if not more.