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Fluke in the News

Daiquiri for the Hemingway in You

The Providence Journal | Wednesday, July 29, 2009 | Chef’s Secret by Gail Ciampa

Duotone Daquiri

Frieda Squires | Providence Journal

The Duotone Daiquiri, above, is a refreshing twist on the classic cocktail.

One doesn’t simply drink a daiquiri. One sips this classic cocktail and channels Ernest Hemingway. One transports to old Havana. One savors the fresh flavors.

So it was that we sipped a Duotone Daiquiri while on a recent Friday night restaurant review at the urbane Fluke Wine Bar and Kitchen, set on two floors above Bowen’s Wharf in Newport.

This bar was hopping with diners and the bartenders were busy mixing their elegant cocktails as the sun set over the water. Jeff and Geremie Callaghan, Newport natives who’ve spent the last 15 years working in Manhattan, opened Fluke two years ago, modeling it after all the cutting-edge spots they loved in New York.

The drink menu, by Jerri Banks, offers classic and creative cocktails, some garnished or made with the variety of herbs that sit on a corner of the bar. A large fruit press anchors the center of the bar to offer fresh lime, lemon and even tomatillo juice for the drinks.

The Duotone Daiquiri isn’t the classic, but it’s just as refreshing. I had to know how to make it at home, with the two kinds of rum, golden and dark, that sit separate in the glass.

Banks was off doing some work with the Food Network in New York, but one of the front-liners showed me how to do it. Bartender Jesse Hedberg started with a cocktail glass filled with ice to chill it. You’ll need to make simple syrup earlier and squeeze limes for fresh juice. Fluke makes the drink with 10 Cane Rum, crafted using the first pressing of virgin Trinidadian sugar cane. Most rum is made from molasses. For the dark rum, Fluke uses Goslings Black Seal from Bermuda.

After blending and shaking the juice, syrup and golden rum together and straining into a glass, it’s time for the perfect lime pinwheel. This is a sliced lime, but if it’s cut too thin it sinks into the drink and that won’t do. The idea is to put the lime on top of the drink like a saucer and then pouring the Goslings over it. The dark rum stays on the top of the drink, creating a dark ridge around the glass.

Your guests will be so impressed.

Tomorrow in Lifebeat Weekend, read all about chef Neil Manacle’s new menu and visit foodblog.projo.com for a second cocktail recipe that Fluke serves at its new Sunday brunch. It’s called the Green Flash.

Recipe: Fluke’s Duotone Daiquiri

Makes one cocktail.

  • 1-1/2 ounces 10 Cane Rum
  • 1 ounce lime juice
  • 3/4 ounce simple syrup (see note)
  • 3/4 ounce Goslings Black Seal Rum
  • Lime pinwheel
  1. Fill a martini cocktail glass with ice cubes to chill it.
  2. In a cocktail shaker, combine 10 Cane Rum, lime juice and simple syrup. Add ice from martini glass. Cover and shake until the top gets frosty. Strain into the martini glass.
  3. Put the lime pinwheel flat on top of the drink so it floats. Slowly pour the Goslings rum over the lime. It will stay on the top of the drink.

    Note: To make simple syrup, combine equal parts sugar and water in a saucepan, and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Cool. (I usually combine one cup water and one cup sugar and store the leftover batch in the fridge for the next cocktail.)