First of all, let me allay any confusion about my being a bar tender - nope, I am not a bar tender, nor have I ever been one - I have not taken any training for such - though I probably would like to, still, for the benefit of this blog, I'm sorry to say that this will just be a purely amateurish viewpoint.Having said that (and set aside the important caveat, let me mention that I am a relatively observant person - and I have observed some bar tenders practicing their wares, in the past... and I can say that I've observed them, at least several times, when it came to making certain drinks, enough to get some things right (like properly preparing the drink called a "Blow Job"). I was able to do this because i normally stay by the bar whenever I go to such places... normally striking up a conversation with the man behind the bar.
Besides, aside from first-hand observation, there are a lot of cocktail mixing books... so anyone can start mixing drinks or cocktails... albeit with a few failed mixes along the way. I know I have at least three of them - for cross reference purposes... and in case two have a discrepancy, then hopefully the 3rd will be a tie-breaker.
That aside, the drink I would like to focus on right now, is one that a few friends and I have constantly concocted whenever we have a get together in my place at least once a month... a practice that seemed to have begun December last year (2008). It has become so regular a practice, that we've even adapted the drink's brand as description of - or a way of labeling the drink we all seem to enjoy in these evening... the Bacardi nights, and the drink that we normally enjoy in each of those nights? - the Mojitos.
Creating the Mojitos is not that hard - in fact, anyone who wishes to learn about the famous drink can visit the Bacardi web page, ( www.bacardi.com )and find instructions on how to make Mojitos - both for a glass or for a pitcher. There are at least three other cocktail drink instructions available in the Bacardi website, but I believe the Mojitos is the most popular amongst them... my opinion, of course.
For the benefit of this article, let me give a quick low down on how to make Mojitos - you'll need the following: Bacardi Rhum (white), sugar, mint leaves, soda or carbonated water, lime. The preparation of such a drink starts with the need to muddle some mint leaves with a pestle (the Bacardi web site even suggests to use 12 mint leaves) with half a spoonful of sugar and half a piece of lime (said half piece being the slice of lime - or lemon, that you normally see garnishing cocktails).
The relatively crushed mint leaves, sugar and lime piece's juices are then mixed with one part (shot glass) of Bacardi and three parts carbonated water. Transfer to a glass with ice and garnish with more mint leaves... and there you have it - a glass of Mojitos, as suggested by Bacardi.
But if we simply followed the Bacardi suggestion, this article would be done.
So how did the impetus to seek improvements to the Mojitos drink come about?
Simple... at times we searched for ways to make the drink easier to prepare - I mean, if you'll be tending bar, it does take time to muddle the ingredients, so there had to be a better, easier and yes... faster way to do this and we did discover one - which I'll get back to in a while. Another reason was simpler - that being the unavailability of Bacardi white... so naturally the need to replace it with something else. In this case, Bacardi Oro.
Now I'm about to share what is relatively six months of trial and error by our resident Mojitos maker – Jingo, as he (and I) experimented with what we had when it comes to making our Mojitos... if in case this article inspires your curiosity and you happen to try our concoction out - well then good, this article's 'raison de etre' has been reached. Likewise, if you do experiment, and stumble upon a 'better' Mojitos - well then please let me know... okay? Great!
So... concern one - how to make preparations easier and faster? Here's what we tried. It takes time to muddle with a pestle – about two to three minutes (a rough approximation) and it does take some effort whenever a new pitcher is to be made – forget doing it on a per glass basis, that’s just too much work. So I thought… what can replace the mint leaves? Obviously it would have to be something minty.
Option 1) I found a possible solution – thick mint sauce, courtesy of Fountain (the brand). It was basically made of glucose and had floating mint leaves in it – definitely promising. This little experiment, I’m glad to say, was a resounding success – so if you stumble upon Fountain’s thick mint… I suggest getting it and trying it out.
Slight problem, though… it seems that this product is rarely found – and be careful, Fountain has another mint sauce… one it uses for salads, and is vinegar-based. Definitely not for Mojitos use. The main difference is the latter is just called Mint sauce… as opposed to Thick Mint sauce, which is the one you’ll want to use.
Problem number two – assuming you do find the product… It’s sweeten and mint to taste, and each pitcher consumes roughly a third of the Fountain thick mint sauce from our perspective – and I guess you could say that with convenience comes a price. Each Fountain Thick Sauce bottle costs roughly Php180, making each pitcher consume roughly Php60 per mixture.
Compare that to a pack of mint leaves costing about Php40, which can be used for around 10 pitchers easily… and you get the picture. I won’t even go into how much additional cost sugar is… lets just say that the mint leaves and sugar won’t reach Php60 per pitcher. But if you don’t bother with the economics, then this is one viable option.
Oh yeah, one other advantage with this is that while drinking your regular Mojitos, there is the tendency to have the mint leaves enter your mouth. Unless you’re the type who swallows the mint leaves, I’m guessing another minor hassle is the need to remove the mint leaves from your mouth or your glass. Like I said, a minor distraction – one which this option definitely removes, as it’s mint leaves are cut to tidbit sizes, hence definitely easy to drink – no need to awkwardly remove from one’s mouth.
Option 2) Jingo tried placing mint in boiled water in an attempt (some would say desperate attempt) to replicate the thick mint sauce – to make things easier too, we added the sugar into the water. Result? Well, maybe we didn’t get things down pat – but it did not taste that minty… though there was some mint taste, but the sweetness was there. Should we try replicating this again, maybe we’d do the syrup effect first then add the mint leaves later – but really… we were just putting the muddling effort ahead of the mixture – but not eliminating it, so it really wasn’t the answer. I’m no chemist, but I guess something changed from the mint’s state when boiled – it did not taste as fresh… so although it was useable, it did not make for better Mojitos.
Option 3) The use of mint syrup. Again, this was not thoroughly explored – since we were just limited to one mint syrup and I can’t say it was a success… however, it could have been because we got the wrong mint syrup - I got peppermint, and our Mojitos that evening tasted of… well, toothpaste.,, and toothpaste with Rhum do not a good Mojitos make. I drank some, but did not really enjoy the mixture – so scratch that one. Again, I may revisit this option – but it had better not be peppermint. By the way… we were contemplating on using Mint liqueur as an option – but were reluctant to further spike our Mojitos by adding the liqueur… but who knows?
End result? Nothing beats the real deal… so Jingo and I – together with our friendly Mojitos consumers, decided to stick to mint leaves and muddling – after all, the fresh taste of the Mojitos and the fresh feeling we get while drinking them do come from the fresh mint leaves freshly muddled.
Next, we’ll discuss the better sugar and Rhum to use.
Question: :Is Bacardi white the best Rhum to use? How about the Oro? Is there a difference? I’d have to say yes. Now, I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but I think the Oro version has slightly more kick than the white (or clear) version. It just so happens that Mojitos are known to be a clear drink – but it does not have to be. Heck… being a Filipino, I don’t mind my Mojitos browning… or turning golden in hue.How did this discovery come about? By accident… honest. There came a day (probably during the holiday season) when stores ran out of Bacardi white… so not wanting to miss out on Mojitos, we decided to go with the Oro version – and to our surprise, we had great Mojitos. We actually preferred Oro over white ever since. And while we’re at the topic of brown versus white… let me also warn everyone about mixing white and oro in one evening.
You see, one of the good things of having Mojitos is experiencing the day after – no hangover whatsoever. Even if you did not drink moderately, come next day, the worst one can experience is a good buzz – but no headache. Somehow, when you mix Oro and White, the ‘punch’ seems stronger… and yes, the buzz seems to linger longer. Now if that’s your trip then you’re welcome. If not – then let white be used one evening and Oro another… but don’t mix your Bacardi Rhums – strange but true… at least, far as I can recall.
Next question: Is there a better type of sugar to be used with your Bacardi? Apparently, yes there is.
This last Bacardi night (June 5), we were not as organized as we wanted to be – the result of moving the drinking night one night ahead of schedule… and said date being the day itself. It was a friend’s request, and since we were all available later in the evening, we said ‘why not?’
That said, when we were in the process of muddling and needed the sugar – we just then realized that we had no more sugar. Now, it would not be much of a hassle to go out and buy sugar at the nearby store – did I mention that we were experiencing heavy rain that night? I guess I forgot to… but yes, it was pouring hard that night. But like I said, no sacrifice was too great for Mojitos… but wait… we did have sugar – though the unrefined version – otherwise known as Muscovado.
Once again, Jingo and I were in that ‘do we, or don’t we’ mode? In this case, it was to use Muscovado instead of refined sugar, or not?’ Muscovado, after all is still sugar –albeit a less refined version… but in the process – and this is according to Jingo, who’s opinion I trust in health matters – him being a registered nurse, after all… the Muscovado happened to be a healthier option. But, of course, we did not just jump into the fray… having learned from many experiments, we tried a glass of the Mojitos using Muscovado before committing to pitcher mode – and it did taste good… so Muscovado it was.
Now, if you know your Muscovado, you’ll know that using this type of sugar tends to turn things brown – but since we use Oro anyway, we did not mind the brown color. Okay… it wasn’t really brown as in chocolate brown, rather it gave a golden color – as opposed to the light amber color that the Oro gives when diluted with the carbonized water. Since I, too, am used to taking beer – our Mojitos that evening just looked like beer in pitchers – well, beer with mint leaves anyway.
For the carbonated water, there are many options to choose from – even those with fruity taste are acceptable. Personally, we use Zero Cal (for their purported zero calories) which comes with a few flavors. I’m partial to the citrus flavored ones, while Jingo likes the one with a Watermelon taste. Either way, it’s a great mixer to the Mojitos. If you can’t find them, your typical softdrinks (7-up or Sprite) will do just as well.
Last, but not the least – the lime. It’s hard to find lime in the Philippines, in that nto all your neighborhood stores keep them in stock – but they do keep lime juice in stock, as it seems to be a popular mixer to a local brand of Gin for the more labor-intensive folks, not just for the taste, but for the affordability. Well, apparently, they knew a good thing – and Jingo tried using Lime juice as replacement for your lime slices – with great tasting results.
Bottom line for me here is if you want to try a different way of making Mojitos – which I would like to refer to as the Manila version of Mojitos, try it with Bacardi Oro (instead of white) and Muscovado (instead of refined sugar).But if you’re a Mojitos purist and prefer your Mojitos clear, then there’s nothing wrong with that – just keep with the tried and tested route.
By the way, whether you’re mixing the brownish or clear version, please use fresh mint leaves – unless you’d like to try the Fountain Thick Mint Sauce – assuming you can find it. But as I said earlier, having the fresh mint leaves does give the Mojitos a really refreshing taste – whether in a hot and humid night, or a rainy and windy one.
So here’s to the Mojitos – cheers!Credit where credit is due... I would like to thank my friend and drinking buddy, Brian, for the pictures he took that night with his Canon DSLR.
Oh yeah, a bit of public service here...
We can enjoy our drinks, but if we need to travel after our night of drinks, please make sure to have designated sober drivers. I cannot emphasize that enough. Thankfully, our group has not had any bad experiences regarding drinking and driving - related accidents – but we don’t want to push our luck either… and neither should you.
Please don't drink and drive.
