Rethinking the Cuba Libre

Some drinks are classics, not because they are terribly complex concoctions, or require a the skill of a master mixologist. Some are simple, easy, and perfect combinations. The Cuba Libre is one of them. Simply rum, coke and a wedge of lime, its a drink thats hard to screw up and, while not usually my first choice in cocktails, a safe bet in any bar.

I do have a couple of caveats. One, the lime needs to be a healthy wedge. An anemic little nugget of lime doesn't add enough acid to this drink to make it truly classic. I usually use an 1/8th of a lime on each Cuba Libre.

Second, be careful of your choice of cola. Ever wonder why no one orders a rum and Pepsi? Its because Pepsi is too sweet, it lacks the bite that makes Coke such a classic pairing with rum.

Today, I wanted to rethink what it is to have a Cuba Libre, to update this drink and possibly add some more interesting notes to it. First off, I wanted to use Mexican coke. Mexican coke is a far superior product to that made in the United States as Mexican coke is made from cane sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. Unfortunately, the little Mexican market in my neighborhood only stocks Mexican Pepsi, so I was out of luck there. I went to Whole Foods and found Boylan's Cola made from cane sugar. In retrospect, I should have held out until I got Mexican coke as the Boylan's (which is a very enjoyable cola) was a bit too soft for what I'd ultimately like to achieve.

Second, instead of using Cuban rum (unavailable in the US anyway), I thought I'd continue the cane sugar theme and use cachaca. I was putting a number of things in the smoker today, and I put about 6 oz of Cabana Cachaca in the smoker for 3 hours. One note, even though I tried to keep the smoker to 180 or less, I still lost about 1/2 the volume to evaporation. The smoked cachaca added a very interesting note, almost reminiscent of a good, single malt scotch in some ways, but with a unique character all its own.

In the end, I ended up using 2 ounces of smoked Cabana Cachaca, 3 Tovolo Perfect Cube Ice Cubes, Boylans Cola to top and a 1/4 lime wedge as a garnish. The result was far more complex than a traditional Cuba Libre, but the Boylans didn't provide quite enough bite to make this a truly perfect cocktail. Next time, I'm using Mexican coke, and I think I've got a new classic for barbecues and parties at the Mayhew household.

Thanks for reading

I'm smoking everything in sight today

Updates once its done, but I'm currently smoking some Fauchon Peach Vinegar, Maple Syrup, Light Brown Sugar and Cabana Cachaca as well as some Chinese 5 Spice pork chops for dinner. I have no idea what I'm going to get, or how succesful any of this will be, but half the fun is in trying right?

On a different note, I'm bacon obsessed. Really. The best bacon in Portland Oregon is the praline bacon served at the Screeen Door on East Burnside. I want to use my bacon bourbon in a cocktail that is an homage to the praline bacon at Screen Door. My thoughts are to either use a smoked brown sugar simple syrup infused with pecans, or to smoke maple syrup and infuse pecans. I think that the restaurant uses brown sugar, but sometimes flavors don't quite move as easily from food to cocktails. Anyway, the idea behind the brown sugar and maple syrup being smoked is obvious.

As for the peach vinegar, I thought it might make an interesting component for a drink. I have not spent any more time developing that idea.

As for the cachaca, orginally I just wanted to do a smoked rum and coke. But then I realized that I prefer Mexican coke, with cane sugar, so I thought cachaca would be an interesting addition, and the smoke might add an interesting note. I hope I don't evaporate it all ( a real possibility I think).

Drink du jour- The Monkeytown Cocktail

Its been blazing hot here in Portland, unseasonably so, and I've been looking for something new to cool off with. Yesterday, I was at Uwajimaya, the best asian grocery store in the area and I spotted some interesting drinks. I ran across Yeo's Sugar Cane drink, and I thought that it might make a great base for a cocktail, so I picked up a few cans.
After rolling it around in my head for a while, I realized that I had a bottle of Cabana Cachaca that had been generously provided to me for blogging about Tales of the Cocktail. I've been really intrigued with cachaca recently, and have really enjoyed having Cabana in the house. It seemed like a natural fit, a distilled cane sugar spirit with a cane sugar beverage, but I wanted a little more complexity, something to add depth and interest to the drink and keep it from being too one dimensional. So I turned to an old standby, green chartreuse, and a new favorite, Bittermens Xocolatl Chocolate Mole Bitters. Both added needed notes to this drink, and the combo of green chartreuse and Bittermens chocolate mole bitters won't be soon forgotten.
The only downside that I can think of with this drink is that it did come out almost the same color as Midori, an almost neon green, but the drink is both tasty and complex, so I'll live with the color.
One last thing, as I'm sure people are going to ask. What or where is Monkeytown? Well, I liked the name, and its a suburb of Monroe Utah, and I have no idea why that area is called Monkeytown. I just felt like calling something Monkeytown more than anything. So there you have it, the Monkeytown cocktail.

The Monkeytown Cocktail

1oz Cabana Cachaca
1/2 oz green Chartreuse
2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Chocolate Mole Bitters
4 oz Yeo's Sugar Cane Drink

Build dry
add ice
enjoy