The Mojito may have inadvertently sparked the modern cocktail revolution. In the dark days of bartending,some people calling themselves bartenders would actually complain about making anything more complicated than a Jack and coke or pulling the cap on a longneck. For these poor souls the worst day would see an endless string of mojito orders. As mojitos grew in popularity and penetrated throughout the American marketplace, they make have indirectly hastened the retirement of some of these poor souls and made way for the more adventurous bartenders of today.
The development of the Mojito was probably a practical matter of an attempt to make roughly made home created rums of the Caribbean more palatable with the native ingredients. What accounts for the resurgence of the drink in the 1990’s and 2000’s I cannot explain. Equally surprising is that people enjoy them with lime pulp and pulverized mint leaves floating in a muddled mess. One thing that I never argue with is success so here is the traditional but give my more civilized version, the MOPT Mojito.
Ingredients
2 oz White Rum (Havana Club if you can find it.)
7 large mint leaves
2 bar spoons of simple sugar
1/2 lime cut into 4 equal parts
Garnish
Lime wedge
Mint Sprig
Glassware
12 oz double old fashioned glass
Assembly
Chill glass. Place mint leaves in the bottom of a cocktail shaker and cover with sugar and with the round side of the muddler, grind vigorously for ten seconds then add the limes with ice and smash with an up and down motion. Add rum and shake. Add all the contents to the glass and garnish.
Suggestions
Alternatively you can muddle directly in the glass and simply stir with crushed ice and eliminate cleaning the shaker.