Erik Lorincz's Malecon a drink to Cuba essence

My most treasured pieces of memorabilia have been free.

I have a coaster from Harry's New York Bar in Paris, for instance. It's signed by Giles, the bartender, and it brings back memories of a fabulous Sunday afternoon sipping Sidecars with a good friend.

I'd used that same friend, who shall remain nameless, to smuggle an ashtray out of the Hemingway Bar in the Ritz, Paris, the previous evening, so I returned to the States with a good haul from that trip.

More recent, I lifted a cocktail menu from the American Bar at London's Savoy Hotel. The hotel has reopened after an extensive renovation, and the bar is an extremely swank joint indeed. I'd planned to visit a few more bars on the night I visited the Savoy, but most of London's cocktail elite showed up at the American Bar that night, so I stayed put until the wee hours.

The cocktail menu from the American Bar has a section that pays homage to drinks created there by an illustrious array of head bartenders, past and present.

The Hanky Panky, a sweet Martini with a few drops of Fernet Branca, created by Ada Coleman, circa 1920, is on the list. The Savoy Daisy, an adaptation of a cocktail found in the Savoy Cocktail Book, and twisted neatly by Daniel Bearnreuther, the bar's current manager, graces this section, too.

The new head bartender is a certain Erik Lorincz, a Slovak I first met in France when I conducted a class there in 2007. Lorincz is the real deal. He talks the talk, walks the walk and shakes the shaker of a true professional barman. I'm proud to call him a friend.

The drink that Lorincz created for the Savoy's new list is named for El Malecon, a seafront boulevard in Havana.

Here's what he has to say about the drink:

"I have read that the essence of what it means to be Cuban is to accept the inevitabilities of human existence, that we are born and must die, and to make the very best of the life in between and have as good a time as possible.

"With this admirable attitude in mind, I wanted to create a drink that could be enjoyed at any time of day or night, and that would be at home in the most elegant London cocktail bar and equally at the Malecon in Havana with music, laughter and tobacco smoke in the air.

"My drink offers the freshness of lime, the rich fruit and nuts of aged port and sherry, and bitter counterpoint of the Peychaud's bitters, all wrapped up in the smooth warmth of Bacardi rum."

Malecon is a fabulous drink, and if you try it, you'll know why the Savoy sought him out for its new landmark bar. If you can't find the specific ingredients he calls for, don't let that stop you. Use a decent port, a good oloroso sherry and a white rum of your choice. Then drink to the inevitabilities of human existence. You won't get out of here alive, you know.

Gary Regan is the author of "The Joy of Mixology" and other books. E-mail him at wine@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page K - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle