020 – Mojito

A Sydney ‘lock-down’ version of the classic ‘Mojito’ cocktail.

Sydney’s Covid Lockdown has inspired me to explore this famous Cuban cocktail. Let’s take a look at the classic and refreshing ‘Mojito’, just in time for Summer (well technically Spring).

Make your own Locktail, the ‘Mojito’. Here is my Sydney Lock-Tail recipe:

METHOD — Slice a fresh (and washed) lime into small wedges (I prefer very small, around ten to twelve wedges) and place in glass with 20gm sugar (usually white cane, although I prefer brown or demerara), muddle until the sugar is mostly dissolved, add mint leaves (around a dozen) and stir well. Fill glass with crushed or small pieces of ice. Add 60ml of White Rum and then top up with Soda Water (around 40 to 80ml) and stir the glass. Garnish with a mint sprig (optional). Drink cold.

HISTORICAL NOTES – It is very difficult to know where to place the Mojito in an historical timeline. Perhaps it is closer to today, as the popularity since the 1990’s continues to grow, and the mix changes depending upon the cocktail maker and the audience. There is a solid case for anytime from the late 1800’s through to the 1940’s, when earlier ‘cane spirits’ such as ‘aguardiente de caña’ gave way to white Rum. In particular the Cuban Bacardi Rum, with the Bacardi company spending significant advertising effort to make the Mojito their own. Then there is the 1586 story of Sir Frances Drake visiting Cuba, well planning to attack them really, and relieve them of all of their Aztec gold in the name of Queen Elizabeth (the first not the second).

If we start with Sir Francis Drake in 1586, the we have a drink known as ‘El Draque’ (Drake), mixed by his party, or the Cuban locals, or both, from cane spirit, sugar, mint and limes to make a medicinal drink meant to fight colds and other epidemics. Certainly the stuff for a ‘Sydney Covid Lock-down’ exploration – you know pandemic to pandemic. In 1833 the Cuban author, Ramón de Paula wrote, “every day at 11 o’clock I consume a little Drake made from aguardiente and I am doing very well”, in response to the cholera epidemic in Havana.

However it was when the earlier cane spirits were replaced with Rum, specifically Bacardi Rum from the late 1800’s that the ‘El Draque’ became the ‘Mojito’. The name’s meaning is unclear, but perhaps the ‘Mojo’, meaning ‘little spell’ is a connection back to the origins of the drink as a tonic.

The first written recipes appear in Spanish from around 1927, however it is clear the drink existed in Cuba from well before that time. The Mojito, like so many other Cuban drinks, became popular with American’s traveling to Cuba during Prohibition (1920–1933).

THE OFFICIAL MIX – The ‘Mojito’ in on the International Bartender Association (IBA)’s ‘Contemporary Classics’ list. The IBA recipe is here, and calls for 45ml of White Cuban Rum, 20ml fresh Lime Juice, 6-pieces Mint Sprigs, 2 teaspoons of white cane sugar, lightly stirred in a tall glass full of ice to ‘involve’ all of the ingredients. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a slice of lime.

TASTING NOTES – Lime and Rum just go together, and build a refreshing base for a tropical or warm-weather cocktail. Adding mint and sugar takes this a step further, and as long as you are a fan of fresh mint, this is an extremely refreshing cocktail. The taste is strong with mint and lime, sweet with the sugar and sweetness in the Rum, which is after all, sugar based. With plenty of ice to make this a super cool cocktail, there aren’t many better cocktails for a hot summer day.

LOCKTAIL CHANGES – I find the IBA and some other published recipes light on lime and mint. On a hot day, this is a cocktail that you want to enjoy as the ice melts, getting the early alcohol and sugar hit, and then a refreshing slowly diluted, but still cold, drink. If that is how you (and I) like to enjoy a Mojito, then you don’t want the mint and lime to become weak and anemic.

I have doubled the IBA mint to 12-leaves. I also like the look, feel, and flavour of pieces of whole lime rather than just the juice, increasing from 20ml to around the 30-50ml that a whole lime contains. Finally, I have also increased the sugar from two-teaspoons (around 10gm) to double that, and going with a darker-sugar flavour from brown sugar or demerara sugar. The end result is a bigger and more flavor-filled Mojito. After all this drink started out as a tonic for past epidemics, and this Covid is a doozy, worthy I think of a stronger tonic.

YOUR LOCKTAIL EXPERIENCE – If you’d rather taste than read, I am progressively building an ingredient list and other sourcing information on this site. I will re-use ingredients where I can (good for my budget too), so that the cost goes down overtime if you are ‘playing at home’.

Let me know what you think.

Cocktails you’d like reinvented.

Recipes you’ve tried and your ‘score’.

This is the 10th and final of the 1900-1910 bracket of ‘Locktail’ remixes. See the full list in the index.