Earlier this month Bacardi and D&D held a joint cocktail competition in which bar staff from the 20 D&D London restaurants battled it out to make the best Cuban rum-inspired cocktails.

The Daiquiri is the classic rum cocktail invented in Cuba around 1905 by an American mining engineer, Jennings Cox. At the time, Jennings worked for an iron mine in Daiquiri, a town on the southeast coast of Cuba. Its blend of refreshing lime, Bacardi rum, sugar and ice made as a cool antidote to the hot Cuban sun.

This was some of the rum trivia I discovered while at Floridita’s rum bar last week for the first D&D and Bacardi cocktail competition. Nearly 40 bar staff across D&D London restaurants entered and had been whittled down to six finalists. Their challenge was to make a perfectly balanced Daiquiri and invent a Bacardi Daiquiri with a twist.

The judges (Tom Sandham from Imbibe magazine, Shervene Shahbazkhani and Leanne Davidson from Bacardi and Des and David of D&D) tasted their way through a total of 12 cocktails, while supporters sipped on Daiquiris. Each contestant also answered a range of questions related to the Bacardi brand.

Of the six, three were chosen as the winners of a trip to the home of Bacardi’s founder, Don Facundo Bacardi Massó, in Sitges, Spain. The overall winner was Pawel Rolka, bar manager at Coq d’Argent, who went away with an iPad 2 and a trophy.

His cocktail, the Smokey Santiago, will feature on all 20 of the D&D London restaurant cocktail lists this Christmas, and if you fancy having a go yourself, here’s his recipe, plus those of the two runners-up, below:

The winner: Smokey Santiago by Pawel Rolka at Coq d’Argent

This is a refreshing cocktail, perfect as an aperitif. The smokiness in the drink and the name comes from the single malt Caol Ila Moch whisky. A balance of sweet and sour comes from the coconut liqueur, the delicious Crème de Bananes and the lime. Besides, what goes better with rum than lime and coconut?

Ingredients:

• 40ml Bacardi Carta Blanca rum
• 10ml Koko Kanu
• 10ml Gabriel Boudier Crème de Bananes
• 5ml Caol Ila Moch single malt Scotch whisky
• 20ml fresh lime juice
• 2 tsp white sugar

Method:

Place all the ingredients with some ice in a cocktail shaker and shake thoroughly, before straining into a glass.

Cuban Heritage by Gosia Szwadzka at Skylon

The herbal flavour of the Chartreuse (a herbal liqueur made by a French order of monks!) and tang of lime makes Cuban Heritage an excellent aperitif.

Ingredients:

• 20ml fresh lime juice
• 5ml agave syrup
• 50ml Bacardi Superior
• 5ml Luxardo Maraschino Originale
• 50ml Chartreuse Green V.E.P. (herbal liqueur)

Method:

Squeeze the lime into a cocktail shaker, before adding the agave, Bacardi, Maraschino and Chartreuse. Add ice and shake well. Pour into your glass of choice (in Gosia’s case, an iced goblet). Serve with a lime twist and sprig of lemon thyme.

The Margaux by Luca Cappellari at Le Pont de la Tour

A fruity and refreshing cocktail that has a Christmassy appeal thanks to the redcurrants.

Ingredients:

• 40ml Bacardi Superior
• 10ml Bacardi 8 Anos
• 20ml fresh lime juice
• 10ml Maraschino Liqueur
• ¼ one peach
• 1 stalk from a small yellow celery heart
• 1 green celery stalk
• 1 cluster redcurrants

Method:

Muddle the peach and the celery stalk in the bottom of a Boston cocktail shaker. Add all the remaining ingredients, apart from the green celery stalk and the redcurrants. Add ice and shake very well, before straining into a chilled Martini Glass.

To garnish, place the redcurrant cluster over the rim of the glass. Peel a thin strip from the green celery stalk and place over the redcurrant cluster. Serve.