Recipe

• 2 parts golden rum

• 1 part lime juice

• 1 part sugar syrup

• A couple of dashes of angostura bitters

• 2 lime leaves

• 4 parts sparkling white wine

Shake the first five ingredients together with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, then add the sparkling wine. Add a lime leaf on top (you can fish one out of the shaker).

I was browsing Mastodon the other day, when I spotted an interesting post on the #cocktails tag. This post featured someone having a French 75 (which I've tried before) along with something called an Old Cuban, which I'd never heard of before! Of course, I had to try it.

The art of cocktail design is the art of swapping ingredients out for each other. There are really very few cocktail "structures", and the more recipes you see the more similarities you notice. French 75 and Old Cuban are the same style: a short sour cocktail topped up with champagne. French 75 uses gin and lemon, while Old Cuban uses rum and lime. Same principle, different base. See also the barracuda.

The other real difference is garnish. French 75 wants a twist of lemon zest, but Old Cuban calls for mint instead. And this is where I went off-piste a bit. Not having mint, I scoured the freezer for some other fresh-tasting herb, and found only lime leaves, that staple of Thai cooking that lends a bright zing to anything it turns up in. Without further ado, I threw them in the shaker and went for it.

The result is superb! A great combination of flavours, with strong, sweet, sour, fragrant and fizzy all balanced nicely. The lime leaves really came out, and I think justified a change of name: not an Old Cuban, but a Bangkok Cuban.

I may try the original sometime when I have mint in. I always have some over the summer during Pimm's season, so watch this space!