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Tomorrow is National Rum Day. Normally we make fun of silly, profit-driven holidays designed by PR flacks, but in this case we’re totally on board. It may have something to do with the fact that we love drinking rum cocktails on mild summer days like this one. Here are a couple of drinks to try out on your friends this weekend!
Cuba Libre
The Cuba Libre is our favorite, simple rum-based cocktail. Invented during the Spanish-American war to celebrate Cuba’s liberation from Spain, it is not much more complicated than a rum and coke – but with the key addition of lime juice for that tropical zing.
2 oz rum (we prefer a dark rum for this drink)
Juice of 1 lime
Cola
Pour lime juice into a tall glass filled with ice. Add the rum, fill to the top with cola and serve with a lime wedge. Rather than coke, we prefer Boylan Cane Sugar cola – after all, good rum isn’t made with high fructose corn syrup!
Southside Cocktail
We love our Southside readers, so when this cocktail recipe came across our desk, we had to give it a try. Effectively a Sidecar that uses rum instead of brandy, this sweet, tart drink has a little more kick than the Cuba Libre.
1 ½ oz light Rum
1 oz lemon juice
¾ oz simple syrup or ½ tbsp superfine sugar
Fresh mint leaves
Club soda
Shake the first three ingredients with ice. Pour into a lowball glass filled with ice, top with soda, stir and garnish with mint leaves. If you use superfine sugar, be sure to stir thoroughly – in our first attempt, we forgot and the result was unbearably tart.
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I read that Southside recipe and went into complete Homer Simpson "mmmmm, ruuuuum" mode. Fridays!
the cuba libre:
my best friend and i always used to argue about the cuba libre. she used to say that because i would drink rum and cokes *with* a lime that i was drinking a cuba libre. i begged to differ. i didn't really think a garnish (which is mostly what it was ... how much lime juice can you really get out of a lime wedge?) constituted a whole other drink. were other drinks made out of a slice of orange or a twist of lemon? who knew. not to mention, if i had ever ordered a 'cuba libre' in the dive bars i drank at, i'd either get a blank stare, a ration of shit, or my ass kicked once i told them what it was.
anyway, this was a point of friendly contention for years. one time, we were driving cross-country and stopped in boulder for a night of carousing. we decided to have a nice meal. she got some makers or beam or some other brown liquor on the rocks and i got a "rum and coke with a lime." and the waiter says, "oh, a cuba libre." i near about fell out of my seat. if it had been with ANYONE but her. i swear. so, i roll my eyes and look at her with a total "you've got to be kidding me" look while she had a shit-eating grin on her face.
that would have been good enough for a story, except the waiter then did something that was really dumb/not cool for a server. he then snottily said, "well, that's what it IS." and i just wanted to smack him and say, "look buddy, we have an inside joke about this ... and even if i'm the biggest dolt, i'm paying you for good service, not to condescend to me." grrr.
but still, a great drink. and conspiratorially, maybe there was something to the cuba libre thing, cause i always preferred a rum and coke with a lime to one without.
Smussy - heh! Nice story. I'd have groaned as soon as the words left his mouth. Now I'm definitely going to have to try some lime in my Rum and Coke.
Joc: with a Cuba Libre you really want to taste the lime. The juice from one wedge just doesn't cut it.
I'm trying that Southside recipe this weekend. Yum!
Tomorrow I will with rum raise my glass and say
Viva Fidel!
but why is the rum gone?
/jack sparrow
I have read elsewhere that when the Cuba Libre was invented, Coca-Cola actually tasted slightly different; so, to replicate the "original," the following suggestion was made:
1 1/4 oz. dark rum
3/4 oz. gin
juice of 1 lime
Coca-Cola
I do like the extra herbal zing of this recipe.
Dammit... I missed this yesterday.... is it OK to celebrate today instead? :-)