Cuban Cocktail No. 2

Name: Cuban Cocktail No. 2
Prep time: 3 min
Total time: 3 min
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients: Light gold rum — 45 ml (1 1/2 oz); Maraschino liqueur — 5 ml (1/6 oz); Grenadine syrup — 5 ml (1/6 oz); Lemon juice (freshly squeezed) — 5 ml (1/6 oz); Orange bitters — 1 dash; Sugar syrup — 5 ml (1/6 oz)

Shake ∙ 3 min ∙ 25.4% ABV ∙

The Cuban Cocktail No. 2 is a shaken rum sour of light gold rum, maraschino, grenadine, lemon juice and sugar syrup, with a dash of orange bitters. Tart lemon and light funky rum lead, with maraschino's cherry-almond note and a faint grenadine sweetness settling into a dry, bitters-tinged finish — a good pre-dinner sip.

Ingredients

Servings

Garnish

Lemon twist

Instructions for 1 serving

Pre-chill a glass
Shake all ingredients with ice: Light gold rum 45 mlMaraschino liqueur 5 mlGrenadine syrup 5 mlLemon juice 5 mlOrange bitters 1 dashSugar syrup 5 ml
Fine strain into the chilled glass
Express a lemon twist over the cocktail and use as garnish

Tips

Shake hard for a full 12-15 seconds with fresh ice to properly dilute and chill this small, high-proportion-of-modifiers build before fine-straining into a chilled coupe.
Measure the maraschino, grenadine, sugar syrup and lemon juice precisely since each is only 5 ml; a small error easily unbalances the drink.
Add the orange bitters dash directly into the shaker rather than as a float, so it integrates fully with the rum and citrus.
Express the lemon twist's oils over the surface of the drink before dropping it in, rather than simply resting it on the rim.

History

The name "Cuban Cocktail No. 2" has been used for two distinct drinks. Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book, published in London in 1930, lists a Cuban Cocktail No. 2 built from apricot brandy and brandy, shaken and strained into a cocktail glass, alongside a separate rum-based Cuban Cocktail No. 1. The rum, maraschino liqueur, and grenadine version known today under the same "No. 2" name instead traces to Victor Bergeron's Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide, published in 1972. Bergeron, the American restaurateur and bartender known as Trader Vic, ran his own Polynesian-themed bar chain and compiled decades of cocktail recipes into that guide, where this lighter, fruitier rum sour appears under the Cuban Cocktail No. 2 name distinct from Craddock's earlier brandy-based drink of the same title.