Champagne Cocktail

Air Mail

4 min.Gold Rum

Add the gold rum, lime juice and honey syrup to a shaker.
1
Fill the shaker with cracked or cubed ice.
2
Shake well until the mixture is thoroughly chilled and the honey syrup is fully incorporated.
3
Fill a chilled highball glass with fresh ice.
4
Strain the shaken mixture into the highball glass.
5
Top with chilled Champagne.
6
Give the drink a brief, gentle stir to integrate the Champagne.
7
Serve immediately.
8

Cuba
Origin
The Air Mail originated in Cuba and first appeared in print in Bacardi’s promotional booklet Bacardi and Its Many Uses in 1930. Conceived as a Champagne-topped rum sour using gold Cuban-style rum, lime and honey, it rode the wave of late-Prohibition American tourism to Cuba. The drink was further cemented as a mid-century classic when similar recipes appeared in W.C. Whitfield’s Here’s How (1941) and Esquire’s Handbook for Hosts (1949).
History
The name Air Mail references the then-new glamour of airmail service—fast, modern and a little bit thrilling, much like the effervescent, high-proof drink itself. Whitfield’s 1941 recipe famously quipped of the Air Mail, “It ought to make you fly high.” David Embury later muddied the waters by mentioning Airmail as another name for a Honeysuckle (a rum, lime and honey sour without Champagne), but historical recipes clearly specify a Champagne top. Original printed recipes do not specify any garnish, and the drink was served as a modest long drink over ice, not as a coupe-style sparkling cocktail.
Trivia
Light seafood dishes, Ceviche, Fresh goat cheese, Citrus desserts
Pairings
Bacardi
Source