Midway & a Classic Daiquiri

Veteran's Day weekend seems like the perfect time to catch an American war-time epic on the big screen. Roland Emmerich, the German filmmaker known for such big-budget disaster movies as Independence Day and Godzilla, has restaged World War II's Battle of Midway. Just six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, this clash between the American fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy marked a pivotal turning point in the Pacific Theater during the war. The film is the ultimate underdog story and features an all-star cast—from Luke Evans and Aaron Eckhart to Nick Jonas and Mandy Moore. Woody Harrelson and Dennis Quaid also play the legendary Navy Admirals Nimitz and William "Bull" Halsey.

What goes with a high-flying film celebrating heroic feats of fortitude? A classic daiquiri, of course. You see, wartime rationing made most booze hard to come by, yet because of Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy (which opened up trade and travel relations with Latin America, Cuba and the Caribbean), rum was easily obtainable. So during World War II, rum-based drinks (once frowned upon as being the domain of sailors and bums), became extremely fashionable. And the nice thing about the cocktail is it's more of an equation than a recipe.