El Presidente Recipe

[Photo: Maggie Hoffman]

Indecisiveness isn't a characteristic limited to humans. Consider the weather: we're fresh out of spring's starting gate (those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway), but here in Seattle, a place of moderate maritime climes if ever there was one, bits of slushy snow were clinging to the blossoming daffodils late last night.

When the weather (or your palate) is being indecisive, it's best for your cocktails to play along. That's where the El Presidente comes in: made with light rum, it has a bright, summery appeal; but with the gravitas brought to the drink by dry vermouth and orange curacao, the flavor is ready to pull on a sweater against the evening's chill.

In 1949, Esquire's Handbook for Hosts addressed the drink this way: "The vanguard of Manhattan cognoscenti has discovered what regulars of El Chico in the Village have known for many a moon: the El Presidente cocktail is elixir for jaded gullets." No matter if it's you or the weather that's being indecisive, the El Presidente is an excellent resource for putting you back on an even keel.