Shanghai Buck

A once popular member of the Buck Cocktails family made with Cuban rum, sugar and ginger ale or ginger beer.

Recipe

From "The Gentleman's Companion, Vol. II" (1939) by Charles H. Baker Jr.

Recipe from the British Shanghai Club Bar, Shanghai, China

• 2 jiggers Bacardi rum (light or gold)
• 1 to 2 tsp Sugar
• Ginger Ale or Ginger Beer

In a 16-ounce Collins glass, over three cubes of ice add sugar and rum, and then fill with ginger beer. Note that the lack of lime or lemon juice shows that this is not a true "buck cocktail." Baker fixes that with the recipe below.

Charles H. Baker's "improved Shanghai Buck"

• 2 jiggers Bacardi rum (light or gold)
• 1 to 2 tsp Grenadine
• Juice of a Lime or half a Lemon
• Ginger Ale or Ginger Beer

In a 16-ounce Collins glass, over three cubes of ice add grenadine, citrus juice and rum, and then fill with ginger beer.