The Mojito

[Nathan]

I drink rum juleps year round

[thirtyoneknots]

Re: Bacardi and good replacements.

To replace Bacardi, color for color, I'm infatuated with Flor De Cana. Smooth and flavorful, aged and filtered it is truly wonderful. I haven't gotten into their higher-end stuff but I can personally vouch for the white and gold, both aged 4 years. The best part about them is that they are almost always (a little) cheaper than Bacardi. Insert pointed observation on liquor marketing here.

-Andy

[Nathan]

ok, since most American bars (if not all) serving mojitos presumably lack Cuban mint and sugar cane juice...what is the difference between what they are serving and a:

rum julep (I have seen a Bacardi ad from the 1950's advertising exactly that drink), a Maison Charles, a Mint Rum Punch, the Movito Cocktail, or a variation on the Santiago julep?

[slkinsey]

No lime juice or soda water in a Julep. And a Julep is usually made with crushed ice, not cube or cracked ice.

The Maison Charles is an up drink, also without soda.

I'm guessing that Movito is a mispelling of Mojito.

Santiago Julep has pineapple juice, crushed ice and grenadine.

Edited February 16, 2007 by slkinsey (log)

[scubadoo97]

Appleton makes a good white rum that is aged and filtered. Works well for a mojito. I also try to avoid Bacardi white rum. Yuck.

[Nathan]

so it's really the ice and soda....

[plattetude]

...and lime.

[ThinkingBartender]

No lime juice or soda water in a Julep.  And a Julep is usually made with crushed ice, not cube or cracked ice.

The Maison Charles is an up drink, also without soda.

I'm guessing that Movito is a mispelling of Mojito.

Santiago Julep has pineapple juice, crushed ice and grenadine.

←

The Julep is an enigma.

Is it a cobbler with mint? Is it a Mint Sling? Mint Smash?

*headache*

Cheers!

George

[titmfatied]

Thanks to everyone for all the tips. I've been working on making mojitos the last two days and this is the method I've found that works for me taking all the tips in the thread into consideration.

16 oz highball glass

3 mint sprigs (stems included, that really made a difference in taste to me)

added 1 1/2 shots of syrup (1 cup of water to one cup of regular sugar)

muddled with gentle pressure (as if sticking a plug into a socket) then gently coat the inside and rim of the glass with the muddled mint (big difference for me as well)

added two teaspoons of freshly squeezed lime juice

enough ice to go halfway up the glass

then two shots of rum over the ice

lightly swirled

added club soda to fill then lightly stirred again.

add a sprig of mint to the top

take a slow deep wiff

I sip by taking the straw and nestling it in the middle of the ice cubes then pulling the mix through the cubes. Keeps any loose mint out of the straw and makes the drink super cold from the drink filtering through the cubes.

[thirtyoneknots]

Thanks to everyone for all the tips. I've been working on making mojitos the last two days and this is the method I've found that works for me taking all the tips in the thread into consideration. 

16 oz highball glass

3 mint sprigs (stems included, that really made a difference in taste to me)

added 1 1/2 shots of syrup (1 cup of water to one cup of regular sugar)

muddled with gentle pressure (as if sticking a plug into a socket) then gently coat the inside and rim of the glass with the muddled mint (big difference for me as well)

added two teaspoons of freshly squeezed lime juice

enough ice to go halfway up the glass

then two shots of rum over the ice

lightly swirled

added club soda to fill then lightly stirred again.

add a sprig of mint to the top

take a slow deep wiff

I sip by taking the straw and nestling it in the middle of the ice cubes then pulling the mix through the cubes.  Keeps any loose mint out of the straw and makes the drink super cold from the drink filtering through the cubes.

←

Good start, but I think you'll find if you reverse the amount of sugar and lime you'll have a much more refreshing drink. Tartness is mitigated heavily by adding soda, and this can be a good way to accustom oneself to less sweet/more acidic drinks. If you do this though, you may want to not muddle the mint stems, to reduce the bitterness that your sugar is likely obscuring.

-Andy

[ThinkingBartender]

Does anyone have a reference to the Mojito from before 1931?

[eje]

Wow, wacky to read back through this topic!

Anyway, to me the most important factors in the mojito, as with all simple drinks, come down to ice and execution.

First, ice.

Cubes, cracked, crushed, or fine.

I find recipes which call for all of the above.

Personally, I don't think just building the drink over cubes works, especially with kold draft. The drink just won't really get cold.

I lean towards cracked, either lightly hammered with a mallet or hand cracked with a spoon. As Toby notes above, you get a nice mix of cube sizes, a decent amount of chill and not too much dilution.

I could be wrong, but fine just seems wrong. This isn't a julep.

What have I been doing lately:

Lightly press several leaves of mint in a glass with the sugar syrup and lime, trying to get mint oil over as much of the internal surface of the glass as possible. Add cracked ice and white rum. Mix with a spoon or swizzle stick. More ice and top up with a small amount of soda. Straw and freshly spanked mint sprig.

Edited July 6, 2009 by eje (log)

[Mattmvb]

As I mentioned on the swizzle thread (sorry, can't do links from my phone) the garnish is the most important part. It needs to be fresh, lightly slapped and right by the straw so you get as much aroma as possible whilst you're sipping. If not you tend to lose the all important mint flavour.

With ideal ingredients my methodology is almost identical to Eje's. One important thing to note though is not to press the mint too hard - if you do you get an unpleasant bitterness from the chlorophyl (sp?)

Deviating slightly from the classic mojito, I love using a slightly heavier rum and topping it off with ginger beer. Or keeping with light rum and topping it with a citrus-ey wheat beer, Kronenbourg Blanc is fantastic if you can get it.

Cheers,

Matt

[Mjx]

Is there any consensus on whether or not a mojito is supposed to be distinctly sweet?

I made mojitos last night, using the recipe given on the IBA site (since I've never made these before), which yields a mildly sweet drink that I found extremely pleasant, but my boyfriend thought it ought to be sweeter, based on previous mojitos he'd had. Although my appreciation of sweetness is close to unlimited, my own feeling is that making this sweeter would also make it less refreshing.

[Adam George]

Supposed to be? No, I don't think so.

You do need to add more sugar than you would a Daiquiri to cut through the water content, but overall the drink should be balanced slightly more tart than slightly more sweet, in my opinion.

[Mjx]

Supposed to be? No, I don't think so.

You do need to add more sugar than you would a Daiquiri to cut through the water content, but overall the drink should be balanced slightly more tart than slightly more sweet, in my opinion.

Do you find the IBA recipe to be more or less what you describe, or sweeter/less sweet?

[Hassouni]

Agreed with Adam George on this.

My method is taken from videos of the bartenders at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana. It's not a very scientific approach but it yields the most consistently good mojitos I've made.

12 oz or so highball

few sprigs of mint

heaping teaspoon or so of superfine sugar (I use evap. cane sugar run through a food processor)

1/2 oz lime juice

a good glug of soda water

MUDDLE MUDDLE MUDDLE

2 oz (or more) of rum - Flor de Caña, Brugal, Palo Viejo will all do. You want something dry.

stir

add ice cubes (4 or 5)

stir again

if needed top with a splash of soda, but probably not necessary.

I know this seems backwards, what with adding the soda at the beginning, and muddling the mint only after adding nearly everything else, but honestly, this is how they seem to do it in La B del M and it really does work.

I should also point out this is one of the few drinks I make free pouring everything: lime, soda, and rum.

edit: see here

Edited May 3, 2013 by Hassouni (log)

[ChrisTaylor]

Thirding Adam George's comment. I find some of the recipes on my shelves too sweet and will cut down the simple by maybe half. It's supposed to be a refreshing drink. To my mind, 'refreshing' suggests 'a little bit sour' and not 'overtly sweet'.

[Mjx]

Thanks, all! I also see from the video that 'muddle' does not mean 'pulverize' (which makes for a sort swampy-looking drink), which is good to know.

[Hassouni]

I make sure to press down to the bottom of the glass, but you want to be gentle with your mint

[FrogPrincesse]

Tamarind mojito adapted from a recipe by Pierre Thiam. The tamarind which is naturally tart added interesting flavors to the classic mojito recipe (spice and burnt sugar notes).

 

First you make a tamarind simple syrup with 1/2 cup of tamarind pulp or paste (I used a tamarind puree which has the consistency of honey), 1 cup of sugar, and 1.5 cups of water (heat everything together, then let it cool).

 

To make the cocktail, you muddle 1 mint sprig with 1-2 lime wedges, add 2 ounces of white rum, 3/4 oz of tamarind syrup, 1/2 oz lime juice,  shake with ice, and strain into an ice-filled glass. Then you top with club soda and garnish with a mint bouquet.