Rum & Coca-Cola!

Three Dots and a Dash is a bar devoted to rum above any other spirit, and perhaps the handiest way to administer a little kill-devil is via a classic Rum & Coke.

Of course, the traditional name for a highball of rum and cola is a Cuba Libre. “Cuba Libre!” was the battle cry of the Cuban War of Independence, and though the years of the war are well documented, the Cuba Libre’s exact moment of existence is a mystery. The only certainty is that this cocktail was first sipped in Cuba in or around the year 1900—which is generally said to be the year that cola was first introduced to the island by American troops.

The cocktail gained popularity in the United States after The Andrews Sisters’ covered Lord Invador’s calypso song “Rum and Coca-Cola,” in 1945 and sent it straight to the top of the Billboard charts for ten weeks.

Here is how our own Paul McGee mixes himself a rum & coca-cola (without using Coke):
     Cuba Libre

     1.5 oz El Dorado 5 year
     3 oz Q Kola (lots of nutmeg flavor, and little bit dryer than Coca-Cola)
     2 dashes Angostura bitters
     0.25 oz fresh lime juice
     Fill glass with ice. Add rum, lime, bitters, top with cola. Garnish with lime wheel.