THE bar staff at Havana’s famous Floridita restaurant have performed a new feat, by preparing the largest Daiquiri cocktail in the world, a Guinness record, as a way of celebrating the 113th anniversary of the birth of U.S. writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), Nobel Prize for Literature.

"This has been the dream of all the workers here to celebrate the 113th anniversary of the birth of Hemingway, who is part of the Floridita’s magic and charm in his own right," said Andrés Arencibia Mohar, director of the establishment, located at the entry to Obispo Street in Old Havana, a World Heritage Site.

The expert hands of 30 bartenders and assistants skilled in the art of cocktail making used 12 huge blenders to prepare 275 liters/ 1,466 cocktails of this refreshing drink in just 33 minutes.

The effort involved 88 bottles of Havana Club rum (3-year Añejo Blanco), and the rest of the ingredients in their corresponding proportions: lime juice, white sugar, maraschino and ice frappe.

Standing on chairs on both sides of a giant triangular goblet, two employees (Eduardo Bautista Viñole and Ahmed Labrador Crespo) poured the contents of jars passed to them by bartenders before invited guests and journalists who filled the Floridita, and curious people outside who watched the event on a screen placed in the street.

The giant goblet, more than two meters in height and 1.30 meters in diameter, was specially created for the occasion by Cuban artist Lázaro Navarrete, who used fiberglass, polyester and glass resin in the distinctive white and red colors of the bar-restaurant.

This unique competition was part of festivities marking the 195th anniversary of the Floridita, which Hemingway assiduously frequented during the 20 years he spent in Cuba. His presence is immortalized there by a life-size bronze statue, seated on the left side of the long mahogany bar.

After creating the record, the first Daiquiri was for him, a "Papa Special", as he liked it: double rum, no sugar, the juice of half a lime, drops of grapefruit juice and half a teaspoon of maraschino. A whole ritual.

A jury comprising José Castelar -"Cueto"- a cigar roller with five Guinness records for the longest Havana in the world; Cuban writer Fernándo Fornés; Otto Ermus, Cuban representative of Lloyd’s Register EMEA; Ada Rosa Alfonso, director of the Ernest Hemingway Museum, and journalist Amado de la Rosa, from Opciones weekly, among others.

"It’s wonderful, delicious, excellent," said Cueto after the new Guinness record was confirmed, while those present and others from the small adjoining park were invited to enjoy this drink, perfect for a hot tropical climate.

The Floridita bar-restaurant, currently managed by the Palmares enterprise, opened its doors for the first time in 1817. In 1953, Esquire magazine acknowledged it as one of the seven most famous bars in the world, specializing in cocktails and seafood cuisine.