Rum and Coke (Cuban Libre)

Cuba Libre, two words that resonate like a cry for all Cubans. This cocktail is more than a century old, it symbolizes the loss of the island of Cuba by the Spanish Empire, which starts the last years of its undisputed reign on the world and on the seas, which began 4 centuries earlier in 1492 thanks to the discovery of the region by Christopher Columbus. It also marks the end of the Cuban War of Independence that raged on the island between 1895-1898. This war opposed the Cuban liberation army (Ejército Libertador Cubano) led by the famous Simón Bolívar and assisted by the army of United States of America to the troops of the Spanish colonial empire of King Alfonso XIII. This war was the last Cuban uprising against the Spaniards. The American soldiers then stationed in the capital of Havana used to consume local rum with lime and Coca-Cola, a relatively recent drink as it was invented in Bay City, Michigan a few years earlier in 1886 by the pharmacist John Pemberton.

2 oz Cuban white rum (60 mL)
4 oz coca-cola (120 mL)
½ oz lime (15 mL)
whole ice cubes (not crushed ice)

Garnish:
1 lime wedge

Place a highball glass in the freezer 20 minutes before preparing the cocktail.

Once the glass is cool, place whole ice cubes, up to 1" from the top. Pour the rum.

Squeeze the lime juice by hand, directly into the glass, on the ice cubes, making sure not to squeeze juice outside of the glass. You can use a small funnel. Place one of the freshly squeezed wedges in the glass.

Pour the Coca-Cola on the ice cubes until they are covered, filling almost all the way to the top.

Decorate the Cuba Libre with the remaining unsqueezed lime quarter, cut in the middle and placed on the edge of the glass.

Makes 1 serving.