LOL, It’s a Frozen Banana Daiquiri

The secret to a Frozen Banana Daiquiri, it turns out, is bananas. Who knew?

Every now and then I end up on the strip in Las Vegas, and when I do, I sometimes pass a drinks stand that does not appear to have a name. Instead, it boasts a large sign that just says “DAIQUIRIS.” The drinks served at this stand are red and blue and green, and they come in tubes and other strange vessels. They are icy and slushy-like, and they consist of cheap booze and artificial flavors and coloring. I am not entirely sure what’s in them — it’s not like you can track the spec down a cocktail book. But whatever they are, I’m pretty sure they’re not really Daiquiris. 

Similarly, as a young person living near the beach in Florida, I encountered many frozen, fruity, artificially sweetened drinks passed off as some form of Daiquiri. Were these actually Daiquiris? At best, they were a weak approximation of the drink they pretended to be — booze, sour mix, and perhaps some store-bought fruit juice. But some didn’t even include rum. That’s Daiquiri stolen valor. 

Sadly, these frozen pseudo-Daiquiris probably represent the most widely known variation on the drink — to the point where, when ordering a Daiquiri at a bar with more exacting standards, it is not uncommon for the barkeep to gently note that the drink will not be served frozen. Are you really sure that’s what you want? Yes. I’m sure. 

And yet — the Daiquiri is a flexible format. Although the classic version revered by self-styled mixologists and fancy-pants bartenders who pretend to dislike the word “mixologist” is just rum, lime, and sugar or sugar syrup, shaken and served up, the idea can encompass a vast array of modifications, including those of the frozen and fruity variety. The trick, as always, is to use fresh, high-quality ingredients and some careful technique. 

So for this week’s drink, we’re going to make a Frozen Banana Daiquiri. Haha, LOL, etc. Like the Appletini we made earlier this year, this is a sort of a joke drink. And like last week’s Jägermeister-based frozen Margarita variation, it’s a sort of a stunt. 

But just as an Old Fashioned enhances the mood around a fire pit, a well-made Frozen Banana Daiquiri will enliven a warm summer evening, lightening the mood while cooling you off. 

I know that some more serious-minded cocktail aficionados — a type I lovingly think of as Mr. Vieux Carré Guy — think of this sort of drink as silly. It’s goofy a Vegas strip drink! You can find versions of it on cutesy recipe sites and Pinterest boards. 

I say this with real affection, because I, too, was once a Mr. Vieux Carré Guy, skeptical of most fruity-sweet frozen summer drinks as a category. But after years and years of making cocktails, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned — one that I’ve tried repeatedly to impart in this newsletter — is that while it’s important to have standards and to judge individual drinks on their merits, almost any given cocktail concept can be executed well. And that includes inherently silly drinks like the Frozen Banana Daiquiri.

So I want to put in a good word for cocktail silliness, because cocktail silliness can be refreshing, fun, delicious, and deeply satisfying — especially if you take your silliness just a little bit seriously. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do today.

This Frozen Banana Daiquiri will employ good but relatively inexpensive rum, fresh squeezed lime juice, a high-quality banana liqueur, homemade sugar syrup, a hint of freshly grated cinnamon, and some real, actual banana. It will be silly and serious at the same time, and both the silliness and the seriousness will enhance each other. 

Some Guy Put a Banana and a Daiquiri in a Blender

I wish I could tell you the history of the Frozen Banana Daiquiri: who invented it and when, what ingredients were in circulation, how it reflected some odd cultural or political moment. 

Movie fans, of course, will recall that the drink was mentioned in The Godfather: Part II, but that’s just a reminder that the drink has been in circulation for decades. The Banana Daiquiri is not a new idea.