OT: Authentic Rum and Coke

While I appreciate the carefulness of your post, regardless of the authenticity of your rum choice, my guess is you'll never get close enough to the true 1940's rum and Coke because today's sodas aren't sugar sweetened. So your question, although thoughtful, is absurd.

That said, use a gold/amber rum and make the best of it.

Oh, and leave the house every once in a while.

??? Maybe *you* should get out of the house more. Only the "diet" Coke is non-sugar. Still lots of the white death in regular Coke.

Said the pot to the kettle.

Or emulate the Cubans, who always use white (silver dry) rum in their version of the rum & Coke, the Cuba Libre. I prefer the same drink made with dark rum and called a Cubata.

My r&C swilling aunts and uncles ( and even my mom!), who have enjoyed the drink since the wartime always used dark rum (Lambs Navy) and the Canadian Navy, who used to supply a daily tot of rum to all who served at sea right up to the early '70s poured a very tasty aged dark rum which most of the swabbies mixed with Coke.

When it comes to rum & coke, I'd suggest lots (and lots) of experimentation. You might even find that you like the drink better mixed with (shudder) Pepsi.

Good luck!

High fructose corn syrup /= sugar. Unless you're posting from Bermuda or one of the rare niche markets that has the original sugar version, you're dead wrong. Thanks for playing.

Wrong! Coke since about 1980 has been sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, not sugar or cane syrup as it had been. Ref, among others:

Actually it was a very true observation. You are wrong.

Wrong again; the highly over-distilled white rums in the bacardi style did not exist back then; they are abortions introduced when rum decided to compete with vodka in the mid-80's. The only Cuban white rum was/is Havana Club, which has so much more flavor than the Bacardis that comparison is laughable. Mixed drinks with rum were always made with darkish (golden from the islands or Cuba itself.)

Finally, right...those are very good rums for Cuba Libres. And do not forget the lime.

pavane

I must be dead then, cuz I'm not wrong. :>) Not in Bermuda either.

Here in The Great White North (sometimes referred to as Canada) it clearly states "sugar" on the Coke can. Other carbonated beverages also use "sugar" and sometimes "sugar, glucose, high fructose corn syrup".

Thanks for allowing me to play. Anything else I can help you with?

;>)

And you exploded with :

No, here in Canada, and many other places, it still clearly says "sugar" on the can. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that just because the USA version has stopped using sugar, the rest of the world has too.

And anyway, your link reference "NEWCOKE", which as any coke fanatic knows was crap, and is no longer available. Apples and oranges? Next you will be claiming that DIET coke has no sugar. Well... DUH!

And then you continued the abuse with:

No, I'm correct. Holding a can of Coke (real Coca Cola, not some house brand) in my hand (hmmm.. hard to type) and it says SUGAR.

And then, being a person (perhaps unlike yourself?) who makes at least 2 trips to Cuba annually, I made so bold as to claim :

??? I'm wrong to say that Cuba Libres are made with Silver Dry? Or is it that I'm wrong to say that Cubatas (yum yum) are made with dark rum? No I'm not. The white rums they use in virtually all of their mixed drinks are as flavourful as you point out. "Back when" are you talking about? I'm talking about "emulating the Cubans", not giving a history lesson. Obviously you have a point to make about rums, but don't do it by claiming I'm wrong about the way Cubans mix drinks. Next you'll be claiming that a Mojito is made with bourbon. :>)

Actually, in most countries except the US there is indeed still cane sugar in Coca Cola. I don't know about Canada, but at least here in Europe it is so. I've never tasted the version with corn syrup but the sugar version is reputed to be better.

Prove it. Oh, and before you get your panties in a bunch, the statement "High fructose corn syrup and/or sucrose" only gives the bottlers carte blanche to use substitute sweeteners should the need arise. That doesn't mean your can has any sugar present. Scan a can and prove me wrong.

Hi folks:

Just to settle the argument. In the U.S., corn syrup is used as a sweetener for Coca-Cola due to the high price of sugar. Sugar is price-supported in the U.S. just like milk is in Canada. It produces a softer less-disinctive taste in my opinion when I have tried the U.S. version.

In Canada, and maybe in other countries, liquid sugar is used as a sweetener for Coca-Cola because sugar is cheaper in Canada due to no price supports. The result is a sharper, more acidic taste.

As for Havana Club, it's a wonderful rum. The Cubans still seem to know what they are doing. A good 7-year old Havana Club can be like Cognac. Puerto Rican rums, including Bacardi, tend to have less character.

Ken in Toronto.

Goslings Black seal is very nice for a rum and coke. But then goslings is good sippied straight...

Email: Actually my feet are big not medium.

I missed this response as my server decided not to display things for a few days...it was right, though...what an asshole.

pavane

My can of Coke contains Sugar..

Outside the US Sugar is a lot cheaper ... even with the huge subsidies the beat and cane farmers get you still pay something like three times the (industrialized) world average price. Don't forget we can still buy product from Cuba here, this is one of the reasons that Canadian Candy bars are rare in the US... If they can't guarantee there is no Cuban Sugar in them they can't be sold.

If for no other reason you need to drop the sanctions agianst Cuba so you can buy "Coffee Crisp" Chocolate bars.

Here in Sweden our CocaCola contains sugar.

Ingredient: corbonwater, sugar, colorstuff (E150d), sourcontroling substance (phosforic acid), sents and coffein

(sorry for the bad english)

I never intended to start a debate on the relative merits and demerits of sugar vs high-fructose corn syrup.

I know I can't get everything totally authentic in creating a WWII atmosphere for when I'm sinking Japanese or British merchant ships, but I like to get as close as practical. When I play big-band music, buying the actual records used during the war wouldn't be practical; CDs will do. The US Navy sub officer's dolphins I wear on my cap while I play were made way after the war, but they'll do; an actual war-era pin would be a collector's item and expensive.

So, too, importing sugar-sweetened Coke would be prohibitively expensive and impractical. But using the same variety of rum that was used in a WWII rum and Coke (not a Cuba Libre) isn't impractical; I just need to find out which one it was. I'll settle when I have to, but I'll be authentic when I can.

snipped-for-privacy@y.zzz

"Everybody should be free to do as much good as he wants to -- with HIS OWN money." --Milton Friedman, economist

But that's what happens. Welcome to usenet forums. :>)

As mentioned in my original post (before the flames decended) if you can get Lambs Navy, that is what I remember my folks drinking all through the late

40's early 50's. If you are close to a Canadian border, real Coke with real sugar is just a short trip away.

Good luck!