Really Rum and Coke

So let’s dig into the perfect rum and Coke. Each of the two beverages offers varying degrees of sugar and spice. Pyrat XO is subtly sweet and rather spicy; Coke is bubbly and sweet. You know how cinnamon tastes heavenly when you add sugar? Same could be said for our Really Rum and Coke: The sweetness of the Coke brings out the spice in the XO.

(By the way, this recipe was fine-tuned using Mexican Coke from Cherokee Street. Although it didn’t taste much different than American-made Coke Classic, there’s an irresistible romance to opening a glass bottle of Coke sweetened with cane sugar, versus corn syrup, to use with a cane spirit.)

A proportion of one and a half parts XO to two parts Coke is a solid start. There’s enough rum there to taste the vanilla and spice. The usual lime wedge seemed like a distraction in this drink (and turns it into a Cuba Libre, don’t you know), but some say mixing’s a waste anyway, so who are we to tell you not to garnish? You can experiment away ’cause you got really good rum for not much loot.