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Mojito

Cuban-style rum, lime juice, sugar, mint, and carbonated water

A cooler or collins made with Cuban rum and mint, this drink can be traced to Prohibition, where it was popular with Americans on a drinking vacation in Havana, and then again in the United States during the 1990s, when it enjoyed a vigorous resurgence beside the Cosmopolitan.

Shown, above, is probably the earliest Mojito recipe in print, from Juan A. Lasa’s Libro de Cocktail, Havana 1929. The procedure:

Mojito

Build in a glass:

  • 2 bar spoons superfine sugar
  • 1/2–3/4 oz lime juice
  • 1 lime hull
  • 1 sprig of mint (gently muddled or pressed against the inside of the glass)
  • 2 oz light cuban-style rum

Fill with ice and stir

Top with chilled soda water.

Garnish with another mint sprig.

Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, p. 481; barware icons courtesy of Haus Alpenz