Cocktail of the month: Cable car

For once, a cocktail whose origins are not mired in mystery, discord and scandal. The cable car was created in 1996, by Toby Abou-Ganim (of Modern Mixologist fame) in the Starlight Room cocktail lounge of San Francisco’s Sir Francis Drake Hotel. It is named for the famous Nob Hill cable cars, which pass in front of the hotel. Isn’t that nice and straightforward?

The cocktail itself is something of a hidden gem, in which a well-spiced rum plays off against orange liqueur and lemon juice, while egg white gives the whole thing a luxuriously smooth, silky body. For the all-important rum, we’ve gone for the excellent and elegant Black Tears Dry Spiced, a blend of high quality Cuban rum and seductive spices, inspired by modern Cuban culture. Its distinctive bittersweet taste is perfect for the Cable Car (as well as being superb just on the rocks) with cocoa and a punch of coffee complementing the distinctive taste of aji dulce, which dominates the long finish.

How to make a cable car

Ingredients

45ml Black Tears Dry

Spiced rum

20ml Orange curacao liqueur

30ml lemon juice

10ml simple syrup

Around one third of the white of one egg

Method

Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled Martini glass (optionally rimmed with superfine sugar). Garnish with orange peel if you wish.