Contents
Cocktail recipe Cuba Libre! (Cuba Libre)
Ingredients:
- 50 ml white rum;
- 120 ml Coca-Cola;
- 10 ml lime juice.
Preparation:
Squeeze a lime wedge into a glass filled to the top with ice and throw into the glass. Pour in rum and cola. Garnish with a lime slice.
An easy-to-make cocktail with a mischievous and vibrant personality. Cuba Libre, or Cuba Libre!, or Bacardi and Coke, or simply Rum Cola, is a cocktail that won the hearts of millions, a real drink of freedom, an invigorating, refreshing blend for languid summer evenings. One of the most popular mixed drinks in the world, rivaling the great giants of classical mixology such as Martini, Mojito or Bloody Mary.
Surprisingly, even such a simple and ascetic drink was able to vulgarize our wonderful bartenders. It would seem that what can be spoiled in a banal mixture of rum and Cola, because this is not an ornate tiki drink, in which there are more ingredients than there are at the bar of an ordinary restaurant? In general, the answer immediately lies in the question – most domestic bartenders perceive the Cuba Libre cocktail as a banal drink. Their recipe is as follows: pour as little rum as possible and as much Cola as possible, while replacing Coca-Cola with Pepsi, because who will sort it out there. At the same time, you must definitely feel sorry for the ice and throw just a couple of cubes, and for dessert, season it all with a slice of lemon, they say, there is nothing to waste precious lime.
No sir, that’s not how things are done. Please read the following and try to remember, or better yet, bookmark this article and show it to every bartender who tries to vulgarize Free Cuba on occasion.
Preparing a Cuba Libre cocktail correctly
First you need to fill a tall glass with ice – Cuba Libre is a refreshing drink and should be very cold. Take lime and only lime – it not only makes the drink sour, but gives it a specific, subtle citrus aroma. Rumor has it that in Cuba, lime is necessarily crushed in a glass with a muddler, but this is an amateur, like the size of the slice itself – for some it is a third of a lime :).
The ratio of rum cola can also be changed, but it is preferable in favor of rum (ideally 1:2). Coca-Cola, namely it and no other Cola (other analogues either greatly sweeten the cocktail, or completely change its taste beyond recognition), must be fresh, that is, from a freshly opened bottle. But most of the time should be given to rum. In the original version, it was Bacardi white rum, the drink that sponsored the Cuban Revolution. Connoisseurs recommend trying BACARDI Gold or Bacardi Oro (by the way, Bacardi’s spiced rum is an excellent ingredient for Cuba Libre, otherwise it’s an absolutely useless thing in a bar).
In general, some spiced rum would be an ideal option for our Free Cuba. Of the inexpensive and affordable – Captain Morgan Spiced Gold Rum. Of course, if you don’t feel sorry for good, expensive light rum, which is better to put on Margarita or Daiquiri, then pour it boldly. Believe me, taking into account all these recommendations, you will take a fresh look at the “banal” Rum-Cola and, perhaps, Cuba Liber will become that very “favorite” mixed drink.
Historical background on the Cuba Libre cocktail
The Cuba Libre cocktail was not invented by one of the legendary bartenders as a result of long and painful attempts to think. No, it was invented by craftsmen, mixing all the most accessible ingredients at hand. It happened in 1900, two years after the Spanish-American war for the independence of Cuba. As part of their support for the Cuban Liberation Army, the Americans began supplying bottled Coca-Cola syrup to the island; Roma in Cuba was like water in the sea.
The mixture of the true drink of Cuba, the true drink of the USA and lime immediately became addicted to American soldiers who remained after the liberation war to defend the interests of the Cuban population, which, however, did not need it at all. The name of the drink was supposedly given in Havana by a certain Captain Rossel in 1900, when he was surprised to learn that this divine drink has no name. He, and perhaps another unknown American soldier, solemnly raised his glass and exclaimed “Por Cuba libre!” (“For a free Cuba!”).
Even Prohibition did not stop the drink from becoming one of the most popular on the South Coast of the United States. He finally strengthened his positions in 1945, when the public first heard the song of the then popular trio The Andrews Sisters called “Rum and Coca-Cola”.
Over time, variations on the theme of Cuba Libre began to appear. What is not poured into a long-suffering cocktail, and Malibu coconut liquor, and Doctor Pepper cherry Cola, and even Cream Soda. Some even add some hot pepper sauce to their Cuba Libre. The most popular Cuba Libre remake is the Caribbean Crisis cocktail: the strongest rum is used as an alcohol base, for example, Bacardi 151, containing 75,5% alcohol.