Airmail

The Airmail — sometimes written Air Mail — is a rum-and-Champagne classic of the daisy and sour family, built from gold rum, fresh lime juice and honey syrup, shaken hard and lengthened with brut Champagne. It is in effect a Daiquiri sweetened with honey instead of sugar and topped with sparkling wine, and Esquire once described it as a cross between the French 75 and the Honey Bee. The result is pale gold and lively — honeyed and tart over a soft rum base, then lifted dry and effervescent by the wine. It dates to around 1930, named for the new airmail service between Florida and Cuba, and was first printed in a promotional pamphlet by the then Cuban firm Bacardí.