Cuban Missile Shot

White rum, lime, and mint — the Mojito compressed into a shot, the name referencing the 1962 crisis while the flavors honor Cuba's 16th-century rum tradition.

Cuba's relationship with rum dates to the 16th century, when Spanish colonists established sugar plantations and discovered that fermenting molasses produced a potent spirit. By the 19th century, Cuban rum distilleries had refined their production methods into the light, elegant style associated with brands like Bacardi, founded in Santiago de Cuba in 1862 by Facundo Bacardi Masso. The Mojito — rum, lime, sugar, mint, and soda water — became Cuba's defining cocktail, immortalized in the bars of Havana frequented by Ernest Hemingway. The Cuban Missile Shot compresses the Mojito's essential flavor profile into a single serving, delivering rum, lime juice, and mint in shooter format. The playful name references the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which briefly put Cuba at the center of Cold War geopolitics, though the drink itself is a celebration of the island's vibrant cocktail culture rather than its Cold War history.