Mount Gay & Chinotto, please, bartender

Begone, vile Bundy and cola! May the fleas of a thousand camels infest you!

The sickly-sweetness of Coca-Cola and the raspy paint-stripper aftertaste of Bundaberg Rum: what an unfortunate and yet bizarrely popular combination that turned out to be. Blerk.

How many seventeen-year-olds took their first unfortuitous sip of Bundy and Coke pre-mix and decided that a) this is the way rum should be; or b) wow, does anyone actually LIKE this??

Once at City Rowers, in a previous lifetime, a drunken buffoon bumped me in a stairwell and spilled an entire B&C down me cleavage, and me favourite black top. It took days of soaking to get the stale rummy pong out: I was like a decommisioned pub barrel table.

Now I hate B&C. Take note: I don't hate rum, or cola per se. Just THOSE PARTICULAR TWO.

So, in retaliation and in an effort to prove to myself that this drink doesn't always have to taste like sugared metho, I have created el hybrid magnifico.

The outstandingly gorgeous Mount Gay Barbados Rum, and the lovely and bitter San Pellegrino Chinotto. Yes, I know, I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier either.

And the verdict is: very good indeed. Delicious. Not even a hint of any other possible incarnations. Sophisticated, elegant, European and original. The Mount Gay (apart from its fabulous name and bottle design) is smooth, golden and smoky.

My favourite part is that as I'm lying back with a frosty mix in hand and gazing at the bottle(s), I can legitimately daydream about being on a white sandy beach in summer Barbados, or at a sultry roadside cafe in Rome: two places I would swap for Bundaberg in a heartbeat.