Cocktails for Beer Lovers. Part One.

Back from the Corn Islands, where I found my cocktail. Or invented it through necessity.

A shot or so of dark rum. Smash or squeeze a lime or two and throw it in the glass. Fill with ice. Top with about 6 ounces of club soda. Done.

Dry from the soda. Tart from the limes. Refreshing, and you still get to taste the rum and its light, natural impression of sweetness. No cola. No sugar. Nothing to prevent you from drinking several. Nothing to rot your teeth, keep you up at night, or stand in the way of quenching your thirst on a hot day. And not too terribly strong, either.

A session cocktail?

I landed on this one after (1) quickly getting bored with Toña, Nicaragua's ubiquitous pale lager, (2) turning my attention to Flor de Caña Grand Reserva, Nicaragua's ubiquitous dark rum, and (3) having a couple sweet rum drinks and realizing it was not a road I wanted to follow.

It's so simple, surely it has a name. It's only rum, lime and club soda after all. I've been hunting but can't find it. Any of you mixologists know? Add some sugar and it would be a Rum Collins, more or less, but then it would miss the point. It's like a bastard half-uncle of the Collins family, whose members all have simple syrup, powdered sugar, or something like that for the children. Maybe it's too simple to have a name besides Rum and Soda, but in my glass the limes are more than garnish and afterthought. Think Caiprinha with rum and mashed up limes but sans sugar.

Somewhere out there is a serious bartender who can set me straight.

More to come.

Pictured: My friend Leo and his excellent Caiprinha. My drinks are not that pretty.