Hotel Nacional
A Hotel Nacional is 45ml of white rum, 30ml of fresh pineapple juice, 15ml of fresh lime juice, 10ml of apricot brandy and 5ml of simple syrup, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with a pineapple wedge. About 2.0 UK units. It is a pineapple daiquiri with stone fruit underneath. The apricot brandy, a sweet liqueur despite its name, runs a kernel note under the pineapple and gives the drink a finish that fruit and rum alone do not have. The lime keeps it a sour rather than a fruit cup. The name is the Hotel Nacional de Cuba’s, which opened in Havana in 1930, and the drink is often listed as the Hotel Nacional Special. Charles H. Baker credited it to Wil P. Taylor, the hotel’s manager in the early 1930s, though two other bartenders of the period are credited too.
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Pineapple wedge
Ingredients
45ml
A Cuban-style white rum at 40% ABV with some character; a very light one lets the pineapple take over. Baker’s version named Bacardi Gold Label, so a lightly aged rum is in keeping too.
30ml
Pressed or blended from a ripe pineapple and strained the same day. Its proteins make the foam under a hard shake; carton juice is heat-treated and does not.
15ml
Squeezed the same day. At 15ml against 45ml of rum it keeps the sour structure, so the pineapple’s sweetness does not run away with the drink.
10ml
Apricot liqueur at around 25% ABV, made with real fruit. It runs a kernel note under the pineapple. A dry apricot eau-de-vie is a different thing and leaves the drink short of sugar.
5ml
One part sugar to one of water, by weight. The only measure to adjust: none for very ripe fruit, up to 10ml for underripe.
Instructions
Squeeze the lime, and press or blend and strain the pineapple, the same day.
Add the rum, pineapple juice, lime juice, apricot brandy and simple syrup to a shaker.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Double strain into a chilled coupe.
Garnish with a pineapple wedge on the rim.
Our version
Our measures: 45ml white rum, 30ml fresh pineapple, 15ml lime, 10ml apricot brandy and 5ml syrup, shaken. The earliest printing found, Crockett’s Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book (1935), gives equal parts rum and pineapple juice with a squeeze of lemon and a dash of apricot brandy.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 10 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Use fresh pineapple juice and shake it hard. Fresh juice foams, and the foam is a large part of the drink’s texture; carton juice has been heat-treated, barely foams and tastes cooked beside it. Treat the syrup as the adjustable measure. A very ripe pineapple needs none, and an underripe one may want 10ml. Taste the juice before you build, which takes a second and saves the drink. Check the apricot bottle. Apricot brandy in older recipes means the sweet liqueur. A dry apricot eau-de-vie takes the sugar out of the drink and leaves it sharp and hot.
Behind the Hotel Nacional
Flavour Profile
A Havana Hotel and Its Special
The Hotel Nacional de Cuba opened in Havana in 1930, during American Prohibition, and its bar drew American bartenders who could no longer work at home. The drink that carries its name is often called the Hotel Nacional Special.
Charles H. Baker, in The Gentleman’s Companion of 1939, credited it to Wil P. Taylor, the hotel’s manager in the early 1930s. Eddie Woelke and Fred Kaufman are also named as its creator. The earliest printed recipe we have found is in Albert Stevens Crockett’s Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book of 1935: equal parts Bacardi and pineapple juice, a squeeze of lemon and a dash of apricot brandy.
The Apricot Measure
Ten millilitres in a drink of about 105 is a small measure doing a great deal.
Pineapple is loud and sweet and sits at the front of the palate. Apricot liqueur is stone fruit with a bitter-almond kernel note, a different register, and it sits underneath. The pineapple arrives as it always does and then, instead of stopping, hands over to something rounder and slightly bitter.
Why It Keeps a Sour Structure
Many tropical rum drinks let the fruit juice do the sweetening and leave the citrus as decoration. This one keeps the daiquiri’s frame: 15ml of lime against 45ml of rum is a real sour measure, and the syrup only trims the balance.
Crockett’s 1935 recipe is softer, with equal parts rum and pineapple and only a squeeze of lemon. Ours uses less juice and more citrus, so the glass stays sharp enough for a second round.
Beside the Daiquiri and the Mary Pickford
Three Havana rum drinks from our recipes
White rum
- Hotel Nacional
- 45ml
- Daiquiri
- 60ml
- Mary Pickford
- 45ml
Pineapple juice
- Hotel Nacional
- 30ml, fresh
- Daiquiri
- None
- Mary Pickford
- 45ml, fresh
Citrus
- Hotel Nacional
- 15ml fresh lime
- Daiquiri
- 20ml fresh lime
- Mary Pickford
- None
Liqueur
- Hotel Nacional
- 10ml apricot brandy
- Daiquiri
- None
- Mary Pickford
- 7.5ml maraschino
Sweetener
- Hotel Nacional
- 5ml simple syrup
- Daiquiri
- Two bar spoons caster sugar
- Mary Pickford
- 5ml grenadine
Method
- Hotel Nacional
- Shaken 10 to 12 seconds
- Daiquiri
- Shaken 10 to 12 seconds
- Mary Pickford
- Shaken 10 to 12 seconds
UK units
- Hotel Nacional
- About 2.0
- Daiquiri
- About 2.4
- Mary Pickford
- About 2.0
| Element | Hotel Nacional | Daiquiri | Mary Pickford |
|---|---|---|---|
| White rum | 45ml | 60ml | 45ml |
| Pineapple juice | 30ml, fresh | None | 45ml, fresh |
| Citrus | 15ml fresh lime | 20ml fresh lime | None |
| Liqueur | 10ml apricot brandy | None | 7.5ml maraschino |
| Sweetener | 5ml simple syrup | Two bar spoons caster sugar | 5ml grenadine |
| Method | Shaken 10 to 12 seconds | Shaken 10 to 12 seconds | Shaken 10 to 12 seconds |
| UK units | About 2.0 | About 2.4 | About 2.0 |
All three are Havana rum drinks shaken and served up. The Daiquiri is the frame. The Mary Pickford drops the lime and leans on pineapple and maraschino, so it comes out rounder. The Hotel Nacional keeps the lime and adds the apricot, which makes it the sharper of the two fruit drinks.
How to Serve It
Double strained into a coupe from the freezer, with a pineapple wedge on the rim. Drink it soon after making it, while the foam still stands; it settles within a few minutes.
For pineapple with maraschino and grenadine, make a Mary Pickford; for rum, lime and sugar alone, a Daiquiri.
Make it at home
The Spirit
White RumWhite rum is clear rum, usually bottled at 40% ABV, either unaged or rested in oak and then charcoal-filtered back to clear. It is the light, dry rum of the Daiquiri, the Mojito and the Cuba Libre, and the rum most of our recipes mean when they want rum that sits under lime rather than over it.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Hotel Nacional cocktail?
Who created the Hotel Nacional?
What does the apricot brandy do?
Is apricot brandy actually brandy?
Can I use carton pineapple juice?
How much syrup should I use?
How strong is a Hotel Nacional?
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A Mary Pickford is 45ml of white rum, 45ml of fresh pineapple juice, 7.5ml of maraschino liqueur and 5ml of grenadine, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strained into a chilled coupe, with a cherry; the measures are the IBA’s. About 2.0 UK units. It is named for Mary Pickford, the Canadian-born silent film star, and the story is that it was mixed for her in Havana in the 1920s, on a trip with Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin while the United States was under Prohibition. The bartender is given as Eddie Woelke or Fred Kaufmann; the accounts differ. Half the drink is pineapple, so the juice decides it. Fresh juice shakes up with a fine pale foam and a sharper edge; carton juice gives a flat, sweet drink. The maraschino and grenadine are small measures with clear jobs: depth and colour.
Daiquiri
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 12 October 2026