Rum and Cola Cream

Rum, cola, and cream — the Cuba Libre (Havana, c. 1900) enriched by the cream liqueur category Tom Jago and Gluckman launched in London in 1974.

Rum and Cola Cream is an enriched variation on the Cuba Libre that adds cream liqueur to the rum-and-cola foundation, softening the cocktail's sharp carbonated character with the dairy fat and vanilla sweetness that Irish cream-style liqueurs provide. The Cuba Libre's origin around 1900 in Havana gave the rum-and-cola pairing its historical grounding, and the format became one of the most widely ordered casual cocktails globally through the 20th century. The cream variation emerged from the transformation of the dessert cocktail category that followed Baileys Original Irish Cream's commercial launch in 1974 — the world's first commercially produced cream liqueur, created by Tom Jago and David Gluckman at International Distillers and Vintners in London. Baileys' extraordinary commercial success inspired dozens of competing cream liqueur products through the 1980s, expanding the category significantly and creating a large inventory of cream liqueurs that bartenders incorporated into riffs on established cocktails. Adding Baileys or a coconut cream liqueur to a rum and cola produces a drink that is simultaneously familiar (the rum-cola flavor) and richer, with the cream's fat moderating the cola's carbonation and the rum's alcoholic bite in a way that makes the combination more rounded and dessert-adjacent.