Hong Kong bar The Old Man channels spirit of Hemingway to reach world top 10
- Ranked No 10 on the World’s 50 Best Bars list, the Central drinking hole is a tribute to its bartender’s favourite author, who loved a tipple or two
In cocktail lore there are certain iconic figures who are famous primarily for doing something other than bartending. None looms larger than the American journalist and novelist Ernest Hemingway.
“Papa”, as he was nicknamed, earned this special status by both championing his favourite tipples in print and popularising them in the bars he frequented during his extensive travels.
He was not much of an originator of drinks – although he probably did play a role in the creation of at least one enduring formula. In 1935, he contributed a simple recipe for a combination of champagne and absinthe to an anthology of drink recommendations submitted by prominent writers. The book was called So Red the Nose, or Breath in the Afternoon – the subtitle being a tip of the hat from the editors to Death in the Afternoon, Hemingway’s 1932 treatise on bullfighting.
Ever the self-publicist, he underlined the allusion by calling the drink Death in the Afternoon as well, and it acquired a new lease of life during the 1990s, when absinthe – albeit in a less potent form – again became legally available in countries that had banned it for decades because of its supposed hallucinogenic properties.
Hemingway died in 1961 but if he were here today it would perhaps please him to know that a Hong Kong bar, inspired by his taste in drinks and named after one of his novels, is now ranked as one of the 10 best in the world.
The bar takes its name from the 1952 Hemingway novel The Old Man and the Sea, which won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The drinks list is short and changes every few months. It is based on what Prabowo, a Hemingway buff who was previously in charge of the bars at the Mandarin Oriental, has learned about his hero’s drinks preferences from reading his work and the cocktail literature associated with him.
“I wanted to make the bar a tribute to Hemingway, but not just a rum bar because of his history in Cuba. It’s a cocktail bar,” says Prabowo. “I admire Hemingway’s books and his journey through the cocktail culture of his day. The Old Man and the Sea is about perseverance in pursuit of a big fish, which represents a big dream. For me and my partners, that’s what this bar is – our big fish.”
Wherever he was, Hemingway was keen to try the local cocktail specialities, says Prabowo.
“[Hemingway] lived in Key West, Havana, Pamplona, Paris and Venice and contributed a lot to the drinking culture in all those places,” he adds. “In Paris, he liked his White Lady [another Harry’s New York Bar speciality] but in Havana he liked his daiquiri.”
The novelist was introduced to the daiquiri at the Floridita bar and restaurant, in Old Havana, and a life-size statue of him at the bar commemorates his patronage. Like many stories about the origins of cocktails – and about Hemingway, who told a few tall ones himself – the details of his first encounter with the drink are not entirely clear. What we do know is that Hemingway, who in the latter part of his life suffered from diabetes, did not like sweet drinks, and that the daiquiri – which was first made in Cuba at the end of the 19th century – contained a significant amount of sugar.
According to Prabowo, Hemingway sampled the drink and said he liked it but would prefer it with no sugar and twice as much alcohol. Thus was born the daiquiri variant today called the Papa Doble.
“There are three kinds of daiquiri. The classic daiquiri, which is rum, fresh lime juice and sugar; the Hemingway daiquiri, which is rum, a little grapefruit juice, maraschino cherry liqueur [replacing the sugar] and fresh lime juice; and the Papa Doble, which is similar to the Hemingway daiquiri but with double the alcohol,” says Prabowo.
The Old Man’s Hemingway daiquiri is a permanent fixture on the list, and Prabowo’s version stays true to its Havana origins in using white rum distilled in Cuba.
“It was originally made with Bacardi rum from the distillery in Havana, but now Bacardi comes from Puerto Rico, so we use Havana Club,” he explains.
“We follow the classic Hemingway daiquiri recipe – two ounces of rum, ¼ ounce of grapefruit juice, one tiny barspoonful of [Luxardo] maraschino, and fresh lime juice – shaken. I put in a little protein powder or egg white, just enough for a little more foam and texture, and we garnish it with grated grapefruit zest. The grapefruit and limes are always freshly squeezed. That makes a big difference. And Hemingway liked his cocktails cold, so it comes in a chilled glass.”
Papa would no doubt have approved of the chiller strip that runs the length of The Old Man’s bar counter, and probably also of most other aspects of the place. There’s no statue of him, but a mosaic of the great man made from bar construction waste looks down over drinkers from the service end of the room.
Notwithstanding Hemingway’s endorsement, the dry daiquiri did not catch on in the same way as the dry martini, but The Old Man’s, with its refreshing bitter tang and a subtle aroma of grapefruit from the zest floating on the foam, makes a persuasive case for the idea.
For sweeter takes on the drink, Soirée, on Elgin Street, is a daiquiri specialist and The Iron Fairies, on Hollywood Road, is known for its watermelon daiquiri.
