Of Old Cubans And Romance

For Valentine’s Day, I decided to try to impress my wife with a cocktail I’d never made before. I can mix a pretty mean drink, but my repertoire is somewhat thin. Plus we had an open bottle of prosecco. So I thought I’d try my hand at Old Cubans. It’s one of the classic drinks of the cocktail renaissance, created by legendary bartender (and owner of the justly fabled Pegu Club in NYC) Audrey Saunders around the turn of the millennium, when she was working at Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle Hotel. Employing muddled mint leaves, simple syrup, and rum, it’s quite like a mojito, but Saunders replaced the light rum with dark, and added Angostura bitters and sparkling wine (the Bemelmans recipe calls for champagne, but prosecco works just fine) to fancy it up and add some depth. If the mojito is a party drink, the Old Cuban is a romantic-dinner-for- two libation. So what better time to try whipping them up than Valentine’s Day?

Long story short, my wife loved it. So did I, for that matter. My garnishes (a mint sprig through a lime slice) need a little work, but I hope Audrey Saunders would be proud, even without the French bubbly.