Cuban Heal & Caribbean Cure
Recipe:
- 75ml Bacardi Carta Blanca rum
- 7.5ml honey water (1:1)
- 7.5ml Cynar
- 7.5ml limoncello
- 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Stir all ingredients on ice, strain into a prechilled cocktail glass, garnish with a lemon zest.
Adapted Recipe:
- 45ml Plantation 3 Stars rum
- 20ml Isautier Rhum Agricole Blanc 49%
- 10ml Cynar
- 10ml limoncello
- 7.5ml honey water (1:1)
- 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
- 2 dashes Scrappy’s Black Lemon bitters
Stir everything on ice for about 20 seconds or 50-60 rotations. Strain into a prechilled cocktail glass, garnish with a dehydrated lemon wheel.
The interesting Cuban Heal was originally created by Matthew Keegan (2008) and was based on ancient "cures" in its ingredient selection, which I think is an exciting approach.
In the original with Bacardi Carta Blanca (and a lot of it), it was a bit too boozy for me and so I looked for better alternatives in terms of quality spirits. As always, the Plantation 3 Stars is simply the better version to the Carta Blanca, rounder and more complex at the same time. In addition, the agricole came for suitable grassy notes, Isautier is not mandatory here, Clement, La Favorite and the like would also work, as long as you use the Blanc variant. The ratio was adjusted slightly, as the honey was a bit too present for me, plus the really fantastic Scrappy's Black Lemon Bitters were added, bringing in fresh and tangy lemon to counter the sweetness.
Overall, however, the drink stays on the sweet and tart side, this should be clear before making it. A sort of Caribbean cough syrup so to speak, but still with good balance for what it wants to be. It actually develops quite postively when it loosing the coldness as the more complex flavors can spread further. As a scaffa drink, it would certainly have its potential.
I renamed my version "Caribbean Cure", as without the Bacardi the original name would of course no longer fit. Since he is nevertheless clearly only a small variation of the "Cuban Heal", I do not mention it on the page as a signature drink.
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