Old Faithful

This drink is pictured in the

Wave Polka Dot  11.5  oz. Pub Glass, 

available on the 

Contemporary Complements website.

Aaaah, the rum and Coke. Steady, omnipresent, always available, and still manages a variety of flavors (and quality) based on the rum used. This and the Long Island Iced Tea are the two drinks I have probably consumed the most over the years, and it's almost a default drink when I'm out and don't know whether to trust the bar service yet.

Let's start by defining some parameters. I set the Cuba Libre aside as separate for the moment. This drink is a very specific thing: Bacardi Gold, Coca-Cola, and fresh lime juice (supplied by the obligatory wedge). It's a wonderful drink, and each ingredient serves the drink well: the Coke adds the cola flavor and the sweetness; the Bacardi modifies the sweet into richness by adding the familiar Bacardi bite with the molasses undertones that the gold rum provides; the lime adds a splash of citrusy freshness, masks a bit of the carbonic acid, and blends the two strong flavors together. This, however, is not about the Cuba Libre, as most places are going to use either fountain Coke, crap rum, dried-up old lime wedges, or some combination of the three.

No, we are going to focus on the two-ingredient version of this drink: Coca-Cola and rum. There's no point arguing the first ingredient–no Coca-Cola, no drink. Pepsi fouls up the drink into a syrupy mess, and although other colas bring interesting flavors to the story, when an ingredient is as readily available as Coke is, and produces such marvelous results as it does, that we shouldn't just accept it and move on. (Note that I'm not going down the road of so-called "Mexican Coke", Kosher-for-Passover Coke or the Coke I get in Europe, but suffice it to say that if I can get the nonstandard stuff, I get it.)

So, we are left with the rum to discuss. I defaulted to Bacardi Gold for years, and won't argue with it today. I went through several other phases (Gosling's, Navy and Myer's rums notably), and while I'm overseas I'm a Havana Club maniac, but I've recently settled on a relative newcomer to the game: The Kraken Rum. It's a 94 proof black rum, with a bit of spice thrown into the mix. It has a bit sweeter of a taste profile than I might usually consider, but the extra proof offsets it in a rum and Coke. The spice set complements the cola profile nicely; basically, it's everything I want in a rum and Coke.

What ratio to use? Well, if you're making it easy on yourself and simply emptying a 12 ounce can into a glass, there's a pretty tight borderline I'd suggest. You might not think a half-ounce of alcohol would make a difference in 14 or 15 ounces of drink, but there's a really bright line change in the taste of the drink between 2.5 and 3 ounces of Kraken in your can of Coke. At 2.5 oz. of rum, the Coke continues to maintain its last shred of sweetness, pleading that it's still a soda with stuff in it; at 3 ounces of rum, it's all collapsed into itself and you're left with the cola and the rum coexisting on equal terms. If you want that little bit of sweetness to remain, simply cut it back to 2.5 oz. of rum.

If you're using one of those cute 7.5 oz. serving cans that Coke makes, you'll cheat the rum down a touch from two ounces; if you're splitting a 16.9 ounce glass bottle into two drinks, use two ounces per half and you're golden. Otherwise, to use the basic can of Coke and the bottle of Kraken rum you'll be obtaining in the future, I give you my recipe for rum and Coke goodness.

Rum and Coke

12 oz. Coca-Cola
3 oz. Kraken rum

Add a third of the Coke to a tall glass with ice, then add rum. Pour remaining Coke into glass.