Rum & Coke
Spring break's first word
The ultimate crowd-pleaser: white rum's subtle molasses sweetness plays against cola's sharp vanilla and caramel. Better than it has any right to be.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz White Rum
- 4 oz Cola
- squeeze Fresh Lime Juice
Method
Fill a highball with ice. Pour white rum. Top with cola. Squeeze lime wheel over and drop in.
Originated in Cuba, early 1900s (specific genesis undocumented before late 1920s print record). Bacardi-backed origin account places invention in August 1900, Havana. Peak popularity reached during World War II via the Andrews Sisters' 1945 hit "Rum and Coca-Cola" (originally a 1943 Trinidadian calypso by Lord Invader, recorded by Andrews Sisters in 1944). Distinguished from Cuba Libre by omission of lime. Per Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, rum-cola combination first documented in print late 1920s; Coca-Cola available in Cuba from 1900 onward. Notes: Plain rum and Coke differs from lime-inclusive Cuba Libre (#495, Difford's Guide), though lime is frequently added in practice.