Changes in Longitudes, Changes in Attitudes Toward Tequila and Rum
Harry’s New York Barin Paris today.
part 3 of a sojourn through paris with rum
The Quest for Rum and Cultural Identity: A Parisian Adventure
I left A' Rhum feeling good. Being in Paris as a tourist and talking with a local about a subject we both cared about was fun. As the mid-afternoon sun warmed the streets, I set my sights on my next rum shop, Excellence Rhum, about a mile away on the other side of the Seine River. Before going there, I decided to detour and explore a couple of Paris’s legendary watering holes.
Harry's New York Bar: Where Classic Cocktails Meet History
I strolled through Les Halles toward the Opera, ready to see Harry's New York Bar, the birthplace of classic cocktails like the Bloody Mary and the Sidecar. Dating back to 1911, this establishment was once a popular gathering spot for expatriates, artists, and writers such as Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, and Ian Fleming during the early 20th century. In “From a View to Kill,” the fictional James Bond recalls visiting Harry’s on the night he lost his virginity at 16.
The waiters donned white waistcoats, and the walls proudly displayed pennants from various American colleges. It was the kind of place I love, but the bar was empty of clients, with lunchtime over and happy hour still a while away. I examined the cocktail menu posted outside, designed to resemble an old-timey newspaper. I was pleased to see a dedicated rum section featuring four cocktails, three utilizing Mount Gay Black Barrel and one featuring an "agricole rum.”
Bar Hemingway: A Toast to the Past, Sans Rum
Moving on from Harry's New York Bar, I made my way towards Place Vendome, where I found Bar Hemingway tucked away in the back of the Ritz Paris hotel. Originally known as the Ladies Bar, this space was initially reserved for women and their husbands, while the main bar at the Ritz was restricted to men. By the 1930s, rules were relaxed, allowing both sexes to visit both bars, and the back bar was renamed the Petite Bar. Hemingway was known to spend considerable time here on weekends. In the 1970s, the new owners of the Ritz Paris changed the Petite Bar’s name to Hemingway. Inside, leather club chairs and wood-paneled walls adorned with hunting trophies and Hemingway memorabilia created a cozy and masculine ambiance. I looked at the two-page cocktail menu, expecting to see some rum concoctions. I was disappointed. The spirit most associated with the bar's namesake was conspicuously absent from the extensive list of 27 featured cocktails and 11 champagnes. While it may be true that Hemingway preferred martinis or absinthe in Paris, the bar was renamed after the man who proselytized the daiquiri.
An eye-catching box on the first page featured "Bespoke Margaritas," with the English description reading, “Triple sec, choose your tequila, choose your juice: yuzu, lemon, or lime, but mainly choose your salt: Hawaiian black, Welsh smoked, lemon salted or cherry and coriander. 30€.” Well, it reminded me of a menu at a Holiday Inn.
The Rise of Tequila and the Margarita's Reign
I came to Paris looking for answers to questions about the French love of rum. I must digress and write a bit about tequila. Why is tequila so popular? It’s a relatively recent phenomenon. I believe it’s because it has a killer cocktail and the place that cocktail is associated with. First, the cocktail is salty, sweet, and sour. Second, it is associated with a California lifestyle. In my lifetime, the margarita has become the queen of cocktails in America – and, apparently, France. I remember when the provocative sex-on-the-beach was the ruling cocktail. That fruity cocktail came to us in the 1980s via Florida. Thank you, Miami Vice and MTV Spring Break. In the early 2000s, I venture to guess the margarita claimed supremacy over the short reign of the classy cosmopolitan (is it?), which came to us from New York. Thank you, Carrie Bradshaw, and Sex and the City.
It was a long and bumpy ride before the margarita gained its crowd-pleaser and aficionado-approved status. There are several origin stories of the cocktail dating back to 1936. It may have started in Juarez or Tijuana. By the 1940s, it had firmly established itself as a known cocktail on the Baja Peninsula, in San Diego, and Texas cities like Galveston, Dallas, and Houston. At that time, tequila was a loosely regulated spirit, exhibiting varying levels of quality, and Jose Cuervo emerged as the standard bearer against which other tequilas were measured.
In the 1950s, frozen cocktails emerged as a new trend. Hemingway is known to have written about frozen daiquiris in Cuba in 1939. With its frozen drinks, the rum-fueled tiki movement gained traction through Hollywood's Don the Beachcomber bar and Oakland's Trader Vic's saloon, particularly appealing to soldiers and sailors returning from the South Pacific after World War II. The margarita got caught in the wave of the frozen tiki drink movement even though it lay outside of tiki culture.
Then, in 1971, Dallas restaurant owner Mariano Martinez, watching his bartenders struggle to keep up with the 200 frozen margaritas ordered a night with just one blender, was inspired by the 7- 7-Eleven Slurpee machine, and voila, the prefab frozen margarita machine was born. In 1975, the first Chili’s Grill and Bar opened in Dallas with $1.50 frozen margaritas. In 1977, Jimmy Buffet penned a song about the frozen concoction that helps him hang on, and Margaritaville became a mythical place in the minds of Americans where they can get wasted away again. But what Chili’s, TGI Fridays, and Applebee’s spread to the world was not the same margarita that was rediscovered somehow and is now featured at literally the Ritziest bar in the world.
Two specific events and a popular culture shift took place, leading to tequila's global rise and the margarita's rebirth. The first event took place in 1974 when the Mexican Government granted the spirit a Geographic Indication similar to the French Appellation d’Origine Controlee (AOC), which in France means a particular food or drink is produced in a specific region and exhibits a level of quality and style. Mexican law states that tequila, a type of mezcal, is distinguished by being made from at least 51% blue agave grown in Jalisco and other defined regions. The additional 49% can be neutral grain spirits from sugar cane juice. So, the bar for premium quality tequila was not set exceptionally high, but there were some rules, and tequila was recognized as an artisanal product.
The second pivotal event occurred in 1989 when Californian John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Paul Mitchell Systems hair products, and his friend Martin Crowley launched Tequila Patron. The tequila featured a beautifully handblown bottle containing 100% agave spirit, with an understandable name in multiple languages. While not the first 100% agave tequila, DeJoria's marketing savvy and support from influential friends in Malibu propelled the brand to success. In 1993, one of those friends, Clint Eastwood, planted Patron in his blockbuster movie, “In the Line of Fire.” Other premium tequilas soon followed suit, signaling a shift towards higher-quality spirits and fueling the rediscovery of the original margarita on the rocks.
As the craft cocktail scene surged alongside micro-brew beer, bartenders and mixologists began experimenting with classic drinks, including the margarita. The renewed focus on fresh ingredients and top-shelf tequila led to the resurgence of the margarita, making it the drink of choice for Californians. Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco is widely recognized as the place where the traditional margarita took a twist and “on the rocks” became de facto. Julio Bermejo’s family had long omitted the Curacao, a conventional component of a margarita. In the 1980s, Julio insisted on only 100% agave tequila, no more “mixto,” that other 49% of what the GI allowed for. Julio replaced sour mix with fresh lime juice and upgraded the simple syrup, which previously replaced the Curacao with agave syrup—by the end of the 1990s Tommy’s margarita orders had gone from 95% frozen to 95% on the rocks. Its refreshing taste and association with the sun-soaked beaches of California added to its allure, establishing the margarita as a symbol of the Golden State's laid-back and vibrant lifestyle.
California Dreaming: The Margarita's Journey to Stardom
California's unmistakable "cool factor" has always, in part, been tied to surfing. In the 1950s, Californian surfers explored Mexico long before regular tourism took hold. They brought back an affinity for tacos and tequila, shaping a cultural bridge. The music of the Beach Boys and movies like “Beach Blanket Bingo” portrayed 1960s California as fun and full of youthful spirit. That narrative swerves in the 1990s as the West Coast hip-hop scene, led by NWA, Ice Cube, and Snoop Dogg, exposed urban Californian realities. Simultaneously, aspirational TV shows like "Beverly Hills 90210," "Melrose Place," and "Baywatch" projected an affluent coastal lifestyle. None of the portrayals of California are canceled or replaced; they layer up, adding texture to the storyline. Today, Long Beach native Snoop Dogg embodies California’s culture sharing as he appears in beer ads promoting Corona’s laid-back and beachy vibe.
The face of surfing at this time was Kelly Slater. Many first saw Slater when he was acting on “Baywatch” and dating Pamela Anderson. He would go on to dominate professional surfing, winning 11 World Championships. With Slater at the center, companies and marketers created a multi-billion-dollar surf industry. The margarita was just one of those items that came with Californication. The irony is that Slater is from Florida.
Florida: The Next Frontier for Rum?
With its vibrant cultural tapestry and diverse population, Florida holds the key to spearheading the reimagination of rum, not as a producer but as a passionate adopter and promoter. Drawing inspiration from how Californians embraced and elevated tequila with the margarita, Florida has the potential to take the daiquiri, the most classic rum cocktail, and breathe new life into it, making it the unofficial cocktail of the state. Florida can recognize, adopt, and incorporate the exceptional spirits of the Caribbean into its identity. By showcasing the quality and versatility of these rums and introducing West Indian cuisine to a broader audience, Florida can solidify its position as a cultural hub for rum enthusiasts, creating a unique and enticing experience that resonates locally and globally.
Florida shares many similarities with California, from its beautiful beaches and favorable weather to its energetic lifestyle. Both states attract individuals seeking a sun-soaked paradise, with coastal landscapes evoking a sense of leisure and adventure. Florida has produced its array of cultural icons, including musicians like Ray Charles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gloria Estefan, and Ariana Grande. However, despite their significant impact on the music industry, these artists have not left behind as many iconic songs celebrating Florida as California's musicians have for the Golden State. While California has seamlessly woven its identity into its pop culture, Florida continues to search for a cohesive storyline that will encourage artists to embrace and celebrate the Sunshine State. Ironically, the one non-Jimmy Buffet song most people can associate with Florida, “Kokomo,” was recorded by California’s Beach Boys.
The Identity Crisis: Florida's Balancing Act
Florida grapples with an identity dilemma that California does not face. Californians exhibit strong pride in their home state, evident from Lake Tahoe to San Diego. Florida needs more cohesion in its satisfaction from the Panhandle to the Keys. The state's identity is a balancing act between being an extension of the South, sharing traits with Georgia and Alabama, and serving as the gateway to the West Indies, with connections to Cuba and Jamaica. It is also a snowbird colony of Northerners. Florida embodies all these influences, but they don't mix as easily as rum and Coke. This identity complexity presents a unique challenge for Florida, unlike California, which has embraced a more unified cultural narrative.
Back in 1971, when Mississippi native Jimmy Buffet chose Florida as his base for a musical career, it seemed an improbable choice for success. With approximately seven million residents, Florida ranked as the 9th most populous state in the country, lagging California and New York, which held the first and second positions with nearly triple the population. Despite the odds, Buffet picked Key West as his creative hub, ignoring the pull of lower Manhattan or Laurel Canyon, where most musicians gravitated. Through his music, he celebrated Florida and shed light on a subculture of nomadic sailors embarking on adventures to exotic destinations like Tortola, Antigua, and St. Bart’s. While he captivated many with the allure of this adventurous lifestyle, sailing and rum never quite captured the imagination of the broader American public in the same way that surfing and tequila did.
The classic daiquiri in its natural habitat.
The Future of Rum and Florida's Cultural Identity
Today, with its population of 21 million, Florida ranks third in size behind California and Texas, surpassing New York. The state has emerged as a critical player in politics. However, for the sake of rum, Florida should focus on developing its unique identity. Florida has the potential to offer more than just “Miami Vice”, “Golden Girls”, and “Cougar Town” to pop culture. It can embody the birthplace of southern rock, with ties to the American South, and the home of the Miami Sound, celebrating its vibrant Caribbean roots. Florida can carve out a distinct cultural niche by leveraging its location and proximity to a range of Caribbean communities. One day, empanadas will be as famous as tacos, and the daiquiri may even nudge the margarita off its pedestal. Florida will yield considerable influence in the coming decades. It could become synonymous with the laid-back lifestyle that Jimmy Buffet envisioned back in the 1970s as well as a diverse cultural and economic powerhouse.
So, I was confronted with a 30 Euro margarita for the privilege of sitting in a space once occupied by Ernest Hemingway. What would Jimmy Buffet do? Mr. Buffet built a career retracing the footsteps of Hemingway, so I was confident he had been here. It was 5 o’clock, not somewhere but in Paris. Despite the doors being open, Bar Hemingway didn’t serve until 5:30. Solved. I pushed off for the next rum shop and a rendezvous at one particular bar serving only rum.
Author Owen Hyland founded Faraday West Indies Rum and lives in New Hampshire.