Mojitos

[angelsword]

What is your favorite Mojito recipe? For me it is important to use key lime.

[Hank Koestner]

I am definitely going to try key limes. I like using Havana club 3, Neisson Rhum Agricole Blanc or ESB ( Ed's suggestion). I put the mint leaves and a wedge of lime in the bottom of a large cocktail glass, and about a tablespoon of Petite Canne Sugar Cane syrup, which I prefer to simple syrup. You must use less of the cane syrup than simple or it will be too sweet. I muddle them, pour in a good measure of rum, add ice and club soda, and shake once. Sometimes, I add a dash of Angostura bitters. Really good mint leaves make a difference. I try to buy them at the organic health food store, as they are much more flavorful than at the grocery store. In the Islands, the locally grown mint leaves seem even better.

[Scottes]

As a hopefully helpful note, I compared the Havana Club Aсejo Blanco against the Ron Matusalem Platino last week. Very close. The HC edges out the Matusalem, but it's quite close, so the Matusalem will certainly do for those of us who have a difficult time getting the Havana Club.


Now, call me a sinner if you must, but I tried the Stirrings Mojito Mixer because I was damned lazy. (Yes, that is very lazy.) It wasn't bad at all, but it was made with key limes and I just didn't care for the keys. I'll stick to the "regular" limes from now on.

[angelsword]

Now, call me a sinner if you must, but I tried the Stirrings Mojito Mixer because I was damned lazy. (Yes, that is very lazy.) It wasn't bad at all, but it was made with key limes and I just didn't care for the keys. I'll stick to the "regular" limes from now on.
You think it was the key lime rather than the mixer that threw off the flavor?

[Scottes]

Absolutely. The mixer is quite high quality stuff - cane sugar, key limes, mint oil and almost nothing else, and no artificial flavor-preservers. It didn't taste like a Mojito that I'd make by hand, but it did taste like something I'd throw together using ingredients out of my kitchen - that is, it tasted real and natural, not artificial or chemical.

And I don't like the taste of key limes.

This last part is what really made my decision. :rolleyes:

[Dood]

The other day at my in-laws I made myself a mojito (OK, a couple of them) using what they had along with some mint that I had brought along specifically for making drinks.

2 oz Appleton Estate V/X (they keep this just for me)
Torn/crushed mint leaves
1 oz simple syrup (they had Trader Vick's Rock Candy Syrup)
Dash of bitters
Juice of 1/2 lime
Crushed ice

All that into the shaker, shake well, pour over more crushed ice until the glass was just over half full.

Then, since they lacked soda water, I used Diet Sprite (field medicine here people, you use what you have). It actually turned out really well...I was pleasantly surprised.

[Troy]

I look forward to the time each year that the key limes on my tree are ready. They are reserved strictly for rum drinks. The key lime tree is right next to the pot of mint. :D

[aglasser]

Though the diet sprite makes me cringe just a little (ok a lot) - the recipe that dood was using up to that point is very similar to the Mojito Royales that I've seen recently in Berlin. The only difference is that instead of diet sprite (there's that cringing again), they use sparkling wine to top it up.

For me, the best Mojito variant might be Audrey Saunders' Old Cuban (Pegu Club, NY):

Old Cuban
1.5 oz Bacardi 8 (though I personally would use Montecristo 12)
1oz Simple Syrup
3/4 oz fresh lime
6 mint leaves
2 Dashes Angostura
Champagne float

Muddle mint with lime juice and a little ice to really tear the leaves up. Add rum, simple syrup, lime and shake until very cold. Strain into a cocktail glass and top with champagne float.

[Edward Hamilton]

I agree with Avery, there is no place on, under or behind, my bar for Diet Sprite. If I need to curtail some calories, I'll skip a few beers and walk to the next bar.

But seriously, if you want a little fizz in your drink, which is a good thing from time to time, a little good champagne is just the thing. But as any good bartender will tell you, not all champagne is created equally. I was served a mojito in San Francisco made with Neisson Blanc, sugar cane syrup and a float of champagne, I can't wait to find that bar again.

The other ingredient, which I'm only beginning to appreciate, is bitters. And the more I learn the more I want to learn. Phil Ward, one of New York's outstanding, and he out stands most of us at over 6'4", bartenders has used bitters to make my first drink of the day taste even better. I take my hat off to any bartender who makes a drink better than I can do it myself, especially when I taught them how to make it.

Sailing the islands, I only thought of Angostura when I thought of bitters, but it turns out, and it's a good thing, that there are a number of commercially available bitters on the market. The better news is that there are more than a few bartenders and drink enthusiasts who are working to improve on what is already available. I'll drink to that.

[Dood]

Just to clarify, I used the Diet Sprite because it was what was on-hand. Not being at home meant that I was subject to what was available.

These days I've been using sparkling mineral water, although the sparkling wine is something I will have to try.

[justbob]

I know that it is not within the true spirit of a fresh mojito, but I came up with a simple night-cap recipe that is true bliss.

(I apologize, but I don't have any measurements for my recipe)

I use a splash of mojito mix (just the finest call or whatever cheap brand is at hand), some lime sherbet and a splash of rum (my favorite to use in this recipe is Appleton V/X, but anything inexpensive will do. No need to waste the good stuff!).

I usually then use my muddler to mix (the sherbet has a tendency to resist any and all attempts to combine with the other ingredients), and a sprig of mint to garnish.

You can also use a splash of soda at the end to give it that effervescent quality most people know and love, however, personally I like it better without.

[martybmccabe]

Robert Hess, of Drinkboy fame, has a great series of videos on classic cocktails. This week, the Mojito (http://http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/video/35/mojito/).

Totally worth checking out, despite my serious issue with his affection for Bacardi.

[Falkirkbairn]

I know this isn't strictly in the right section, not being a white rum and all, but other than a classic mojito, my favourite is:

12oz glass
1/2 lime in wedges
2 tsp brown sugar
mint
2oz Sailor Jerry
2 oz apple juice (the better quality the better)

Muddle mint/sugar/lime
top glass with ice
pour in rum & juice
shake well

hope you like

[Bahamian]

yesterday evening/night i had some mojitos at a cuban bar in nassau downtown . instaed of club soda they floated it with tonic...
by ordering the second one i asked for soda instead of tonic and the woman preparing the drinks loked realy kind of astonished - it was interessting, but i liked the ones with water better, not only because i could tast the havanna vlub even better.
have you heard of this? is this some kind of cuban style (boss and most bartenders are real cubas)?


thanx and excuse my english (i am german and going to live in the bahamas for about a year, so i hope to improve my school- and pop-rock-english a little ;-)