Bacardi Cocktail
45 ml White rum, 20 ml Lime juice, 10 ml Grenadine, 1 Lime wedge
Cuba Libre
Rum, cola and lime - the world's most relaxed long drink.
Classic
Easy
2 min
Photo: Cuba Libre 01 by Arnaud 25 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · All credits
Ingredients
Measures below are multiplied for 12 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 600 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 600 ml line. White rum
- 1440 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 1440 ml line. Cola
- 120 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 120 ml line. Lime juice - The squirt of lime is what separates this from a rum and coke
- 12 wedges Lime wedge (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Rum and lime over ice, cola on top, stir once and garnish.
Method
Batch (12 drinks)Batch (12 drinks) - about 2.16 l of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- Fill a highball glass with ice.
- Pour in the white rum and the lime juice.
- Top with cola and stir gently once or twice.
- Squeeze a lime wedge over the surface and drop it in.
Serve it
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
Cuba Libre
Havana, some time around 1900: a bar, a bottle of rum, a brand-new American cola, and a lime. The story goes that a soldier raised his glass to the end of Spanish rule with the words "por Cuba libre" - for a free Cuba - and the drink took the toast as its name. A century later it is still the easiest way to make a bottle of cola taste like an evening.
Getting it right
The lime is not a garnish, it is the ingredient that distinguishes this from a rum and coke - so measure it in rather than waving a wedge nearby. White rum is the traditional choice: it keeps the drink crisp and lets the cola do the sweet talking. Build it in the glass, over plenty of ice, and stir just enough to chill it. It is worth using a cola you actually like the taste of, since it is most of the drink.
Tasting notes
Sweet vanilla and caramel cola, with grassy rum underneath and a bright line of lime through the middle. Long, cold and undemanding - a drink for a warm evening and good company.
Swap the cola for ginger beer and a squeeze of lime and you have a Dark 'n' Stormy; swap the rum for bourbon and you have something the Americans call a Kentucky Mule's cousin. It is a very adaptable sort of drink.
More White rum cocktails
Blue Hawaiian
45 ml White rum, 20 ml Blue curaçao, 60 ml Pineapple juice, 20 ml Coconut cream, 15 ml Lemon juice, 1 wedge Pineapple, 1 Maraschino cherry
Daiquiri
60 ml White rum, 25 ml Lime juice, 15 ml Simple syrup, 1 Lime wedge