The Old Cuban Cocktail

Laurie and I love creating our own cocktails, but we also enjoy the classic cocktails from time to time. Think Cosmopolitan, Negroni, Mojito, Margarita, and G&T to name just a few. But even better is when visitors come with their favorite cocktail recipes to share with us, which is how I came to know and enjoy a delicious cocktail called the Old Cuban!

The Old Cuban Cocktail

You all know Sara and Andy by now, our beautiful niece and her pretty cool husband! Well, you might not know them personally, but you have heard me talk about them in this blog on numerous occasions. They are frequent Sarasota visitors during the cold winter months up in Minnesota, and we absolutely love it whenever they head down to Florida.

In addition to enjoying spending time with them and exploring the great foodie scene together down here in Sarasota, we also look forward to Andy bringing a favorite cocktail recipe or two that he shares with us during their visits. Last year it was the E. Hemingway Special Daiquiri and this year, and keeping with the Cuba theme, his shared libation was the “Old Cuban”. I can vouch for this cocktail – it’s spectacular! Here’s what Andy had to say about it:

"This past May, my wife Sara and I were able to enjoy what is becoming one of our favorite traditions, a trip down to Sarasota to visit Uncle Mark and Aunt Laurie! We always enjoy the mix of new restaurants, old favorites, and delightful home cooked meals. What has also become somewhat of a tradition is finding and making a new cocktail. This year, it was the “Old Cuban”.

Developed in the early 2000s by Audrey Saunders at the pioneering, now unfortunately closed Pegu Club in New York City, the Old Cuban, despite its name, isn’t that old. Like most of my favorite cocktails, it is a rum based drink. I suppose you should probably use a Cuban rum, but those can be hard to come by. The original recipe calls for an aged, dark rum. I used Planteray (formerly Plantation) Original Dark because, frankly, that’s all I had at home. But it ended up working very well. Original Dark is a blended rum, made from Jamaican and Barbadian rums; very well balanced and works wonderfully in many of my favorite rum drinks. The recipe also calls for sparkling white wine; I used a brut Cava (Torre Oria). OK, let’s get into it!"

The Old Cuban Cocktail (makes 1 cocktail)

This is a refreshing rum-inspired drink that brings rum, citrus, bitters, herbs, and sparkling wine together to create a complex and refreshing cocktail tailor made for the tropics! But beware – these go down easy so grab a lounge chair and your favorite book and enjoy watching the sunset as you sip one (or two, or three!) servings of this tasty libation!

Ingredients

1½ oz. aged rum

¾ oz. fresh squeezed lime juice

¾ oz. simple syrup

2 dashes Angostura bitters

6-8 fresh mint leaves

3-4 oz of sparkling white wine

Directions

Mix all ingredients, other than the sparkling wine, into your shaker and shake vigorously over ice for about 10 seconds. No need to muddle or express the mint, the ice will break the leaves up. Double strain into a chilled coup glass, then top with sparkling wine and (gently!) mix it in. Garnish with a mint leaf.

Andy, hard at work, creating the Old Cuban cocktail