How to pre-make mojitos?

[MPruett]

Ok... so a couple that my wife and I are friends with are having their entire house renovated, and it's causing them a bunch of stress.

We were thinking that we'd make them a "mojito kit" with some rum, simple syrup, limes, mint and a bottle of club soda, until it occurred to us that they may be lacking most of the stuff that makes a bar or kitchen.

So I got to wondering about how I could make some sort of mojito mix out of the same stuff that you'd make a normal mojito from, except not require any knives, cutting boards or muddlers.

I got to wondering about infusing the simple syrup or lime juice with mint, or maybe mixing everything but the club soda together, in hopes that the rum will keep it all from spoiling for a while.

Any experience with this kind of thing? Any ideas?

[Chris Amirault]

Mint and lime are notoriously bad ingredients for bottling drinks in this manner, I'm afraid! I'd strongly urge you to choose a different drink, as the Mojito really demands a la minute preparation and fresh ingredients. Drinks with largely shelf-stable ingredients -- Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, Negronis, Martinis, etc. -- can all be bottled to splendid effect; if you're insistent on something fizzy, you could make a base and add soda to it. And if citrus is required, lean lemon instead of lime, which goes south within hours.

[weinoo]

Pre-made Negronis and Manhattans - all the rage these days at cocktail places in NYC. Then it's just a matter of proper dilution and chilling.

[Adam George]

Do they even have access to ice?

[MPruett]

I bet they have a cooler, or a sack of ice in the freezer or something like that.

I have citric acid on hand; I wonder if there's some way to use that along with lime zest?

[Chris Amirault]

Not as a substitute for lime juice, I'm afraid....

[rotuts]

I simply 'pull a cork'

but if you want to save time etc

you might want to get those fragile aromatics ground up some way and then freeze in small ice cube trays and then use then in the drinks one by one?

[annabelle]

High octane booze drinks and remodeling projects just sound like a recipe for disaster.

I'd stick with an assortment of beers and a few bottles of wine.

[FrogPrincesse]

I agree that mojitos do not lend themselves to pre-batching.

Why not invite your friends to your place and make their favorite cocktail? They may appreciate getting away from the remodeling mess for a little while...

[MPruett]

They're not remodeling it themselves; they have a gang of contractors.

We'd have them over, but they don't live all that close, and our house is a wreck due to our 2 year old and his tornado-like ways.