old cuban

1/2 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Simple Syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Mint Leaves
1 1/2 oz Barbancourt 8 15 Year Rum
2 oz Cristalino Sparkling Wine

Muddle mint leaves with simple syrup, bitters, and lime juice. Add rum and shake on ice. Double strain through a regular and a tea strainer into a coupe. Top with champagne and garnish with a spanked mint leaf. Note: this is what I observed; most recipes list it as 3/4 oz lime juice which it could have been, and I completely missed the addition of the bitters but I included them in the recipe.

After Drink, we took Sam's suggestion to eat down the road at Sel de la Terre especially after I had read that they had offered a vegetarian prix fix menu on New Year's Eve here. After dinner, we hopped on the subway to continue our night at Eastern Standard in quest of their cheese plate. We found a pair of seats in front of Kit Paschal's station. While Kit was tending to Andrea's order of "something with pastis" whereby Kit decided he wanted to make the original, rather complicated Zombie recipe [1], I looked over the menu for a drink I have not tried yet. I went with the Old Cuban.
The Old Cuban was rather pleasant -- a mojito given some extra sophistication with the bubbly. After this round of drinks and cheese, we were about to be off to the next destination when Kit presented a round of pousse-cafés with the check [2]. The Old Cuban's mint theme carried over with a layer of Fernet-Branca on top of crème de menthe with crushed ice and garnished with a mint leaf.

[1] Kit's excitement was on par with John Gertsen's level when he was making a round of a rather complicated pousse-cafés for my neighbors at No. 9's bar; the pousse-café contained maraschino liqueur, an unbroken egg yolk, [another booze layer], freshly whipped meringue, and cocoa powder. I probably missed a bitters and/or other layer. EDIT: it's called the Knickebein.
[2] I later learned the name of the drink as the Miracle Frappe from this chart.