- 2 oz white rum
- 1 oz lime juice
- Mint, soda, sugar
Classic cocktail
Mojito
Rum · Lime · Mint
White rum, lime, sugar, mint and soda over crushed ice. The oldest drink on the wall, and the coldest.
El Draque, 1586.The usual origin is a medicine: in 1586 Francis Drake's crew, anchored off Havana, were given aguardiente with mint, lime and sugar against scurvy and dysentery, and the drink took the name El Draque. Whether the dates hold or not, that is the recipe, with a rough cane spirit where the rum now goes.
Rum made it a drink.In the nineteenth century Cuban distillers learned to make a clean white rum, and the medicine became the Mojito. Havana claims it through La Bodeguita del Medio, where a sign in Hemingway's name praises the bar's version; the sign is probably not in his hand, but the bar still makes a good one.
Today. It is a summer drink and a slow one to make, which is why a bar that does it well is worth knowing. The bottle is simple: a white rum, nothing aged, so the mint and lime stay in front.
- White rumAngostura White Oak 750ml · $17.992 oz
- Lime juice, freshFrom your kitchen1 oz
- SugarFrom your kitchen2 tsp
- Mint leaves, plus a sprigFrom your kitchen8
- Soda waterFrom your kitchenTo top
Put the mint leaves, sugar and lime juice in a highball glass and press gently with a muddler. Bruise the mint; do not shred it.
Add 2 oz white rum and fill the glass with crushed ice.
Stir until the outside of the glass is cold and the sugar is gone.
Top with soda water, give it one more stir, and stand a mint sprig in the top.
Never shredded mint. Bruised leaves give the oil; torn ones give green bits in your teeth.
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- 1 oz sweet vermouth
- 2 oz vodka
- 1 oz espresso
- ½ oz coffee liqueur
- 2 oz bourbon
- ¾ oz lemon juice
- ½ oz simple syrup
- 2 oz orange juice
- Sparkling wine to top
- 2 oz bourbon
- 2 dashes bitters
- Sugar cube, orange peel
- 2 oz tequila
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