Rum lovers, you might have to make a run for the liquor store soon — and hope the bottle you’re looking for is still there.
The 86 Co. launched Caña Brava Reserva Añeja late last year as a 7-year-old version of its lighter and younger sibling, Caña Brava Carta Blanca Rum, and it’s a rich dark spirit with a depth and complexity you’d expect in a rum of its age. But it’s a one-time release, so you don’t have long to secure a bottle before they’re all gone.
Distilled like the original Caña Brava by Francisco J. Fernandez, a Cuban rum expert who makes the spirit from Panamanian sugarcane, the Reserva is bottled at 90 proof. That’s a slightly higher proof than normal to “give this rum additional body and flavor, making it very suitable for mixing” in drinks like El Presidente, Old Cuban and the Rum Old Fashioned, according to a press release.
“We wanted to introduce a rum that would work like a rye whiskey in cocktails,” Dushan Zaric, co-founder of the 86 Co., said in the press release.
Try it in this Old Cuban cocktail, which is like a mojito for wintertime imbibing.
The Old Cuban
1 1/2 oz. Caña Brava Reserva Añeja
2 oz. champagne
3/4 oz. lime juice
3/4 oz. simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
6 mint leaves, plus mint sprig for garnish
Muddle the mint in a shaker. Add the rum, lime juice, bitters, simple syrup with ice and shake well until chilled. Strain into a couple glass and add champagne.
Garnish with mint sprig.
— Adapted from Mariko Buser of Peche
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