Mixing it up with Robin James Wynne at Miss Thing’s in Toronto

by Patricia Noonan

It’s the 200th anniversary of La Floridita, a very historic restaurant and cocktail bar in the old part of Havana, famed for being a hangout of writer and bon vivant Ernest Hemingway among other writers and artists. The drink of choice for Papa Hemingway was the Daiquiri. It’s one of the classic sour cocktails, originally mixed up by some American engineers working in Cuba at the Daiquiri Iron Mines. They took the ingredients that were on there in abundance; limes, cane sugar, rum, and the rest is history. A Hemingway daiquiri is a twist the classic lime daiquiri, but tweaked with Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, to replace the modern version which often relies on the bartender’s friend, Cointreau or triple sec, for an element of citrus sweetness. [Photo courtesy of Miss Thing’s]

It doesn’t have to be summer and you don’t need a trip to Havana to settle your craving for a daiquiri (although either would be great!). On the Queen Street strip, in the west end of Toronto, Miss Thing’s top bartender Robin James Wynne is the resident rum expert. Robin has travelled to numerous sugar cane producing countries in the Caribbean; from Cuba, Jamaica and the Bahamas to Barbados, St Lucia, Puerto Rico and more, broadening his rum expertise.  Originally trained in the kitchen at a young age, he worked his way up to bar management in 2007.

At Miss Thing’s, he makes two variations on the daiquiri. The Fuzzy Wawa, Robin tells me, is the lovechild of a daiquiri and a piña colada mixed.  Robin uses Havana Club 3 Year Old Rum, coconut lemongrass sake, kaffir lime leaf syrup, lime juice, toasted coconut bitters, shaken and served in a coconut. It looks retro cool, in fact it’s so cool they served 12,000 of these cocktails last year alone.

Other popular variations on the famed daiquiri use different fruit in the cocktail. Robin’s ‘Electric banana’ goes super tropical; it’s a spiced banana daiquiri with Havana Club 7 Year Old Rum, fresh banana purée, spiced syrup, banana liquor, pineapple juice, angostura bitters and for fun, it has a funky, creative banana dolphin garnish. All his kitchen expertise and rum knowledge has contributed to cocktail production … tasting ingredients and finding that perfect flavor match in the final cocktail recipe.

Rum is the wonderful distilled byproduct of sugar cane after production for white and brown sugar. Historically, many rum distilleries were built alongside sugar cane plantations, a perfect marriage of ecology and economy.  Robin James Wynne has further distilled his knowledge of rum, the Zen-like appeal of island life and culture into his perfect escapist ideal. Get a taste of it at Miss Thing’s - you don’t even have to leave Toronto!

Cheers!