Friday Happy Hour: Cuba Libre in a Can? Umm, Not the Best Plan…
When it comes to rum cocktails, nothing is lazier or more uninspired than Rum and Coke, though that’s not altogether a bad thing necessarily… At least not all the time… Rum and Coke is the unofficial national drink of our home island of St. Croix, after all, so you can be sure we enjoy more than our fair share each time we’re back there, or whenever we happen to be where two or more Crucians are gathered to fete.
In those instances, Rum and Coke just seems to fit perfectly, like those really well-worn sneakers you just refuse to throw away. They’re not what they used to be, but there’s comfort in familiarity, and familiarity can go a long way toward happiness.
For me, as it relates to Rum and Coke, that long way toward happiness ends and takes an abrupt turn in an entirely different direction right at the can pictured above.
Yes, dear reader, that’s a Rum and Coke… in a can.
Okay, it’s not as bad as the titanic feat of misapplied German engineering that is the Cheeseburger in a Can, easily the most hilariously gross consumable product I’ve ever come across. (Read/laugh about it here).
Still, I say Rum and Coke in a Can is wholly unnecessary at best. I mean really, how lazy do you have to be to buy this? There couldn’t be a more simple cocktail to craft than a Rum and Coke. Reducing its creation to simply popping open a can seems an affront to the finer joys of savoring rum, even when most Rum and Cokes tend to bury said rum flavor with cola.
So, who’s responsible for this?
Well, I found the can pictured above in the Turks & Caicos, but this stuff is available in many different parts of the Caribbean and Central America – Bahamas, Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, etc. The guys behind it are from Panama, where the product was originally launched in 1991. Since then, production has been moved to Mexico and Bolivia.
And, how’s it taste?
Well, if you like your Rum and Coke light on the rum and heavy on the cola, you might like this. There’s definitely a light rum somewhere in there. She’s not a fine or fancy rum either, but she’s there, ready to do the job of getting you just a bit buzzed, while the extra-added cola kick ensures you won’t be able to sleep it off any time soon after you’ve tried a can.
Yeah, it’s an acquired taste, I guess, though one tailor-made for those times when you’re at your laziest…
Cheers?