Is a rum and coke the same as a Cuba Libre?

ah, cuba libres. was at my local dive a couple months ago with some coworkers getting drinks after a shift. a few of them didn’t speak english well and asked me to order for them, they wanted cuba libres. now it’s pretty packed at the bar so when the bartender comes over i promptly ask for my pbr/shot of whiskey and two cuba libres. she seems pretty frazzled from the rush, and goes: “cuba libre- that’s just a rum and coke with lime right??” i say “pretty much, yeah”. she gets loud as hell and goes “next time, when it’s busy, just get a rum and coke with a lime!!!!!”. whatever, didn’t say anything and tipped her the usual, but it definitely rubbed me the wrong way. a couple shameless comrade coworkers of mine continued to order cuba libres throughout the night in solidarity. haven’t seen her since but i can only imagine someone ordering a manhattan and the exasperated “manhattan??? that’s just whiskey with vermouth and bitters, right? next time, when it’s busy, …!!…!!…”

anyways yes. rum coke with lime.

/r/bartenders Thread