It’s time for another Throwback Thursday Classic Cocktail, everyone! And this week, by popular demand, we are delving into the world of the Mojito!

And, because we love you so much, we will not just be giving you a recipe for the perfect classic Mojito, BUT we also tinkered with the recipe to come up with a variation of our own, which we have dubbed The Italian Job! But first things first, lets get down to business with the best of the best original recipe!

The Mojito is a classic, to say the least. Simple, refreshing, and delicious, it is the perfect spring cocktail. And although the Mojito is made up of only a few ingredients, it takes a bit of finess to really make it great. We have done a lot of on-the-ground research to come up with the best recipe for you, so lets get down to it!

For the perfect Mojito, you will need:

• 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 oz simple syrup
• Generous handful of mint leaves
• 2 oz rum (not barrel aged)
• Aprox. 3 oz sparkling water

Gather all of your ingredients plus your cocktail shaker, fruit press, jiggers, tall serving glass, and bar spoon with muddler (or just a muddler, if that is what you have).

First, wash a generous handful of mint leaves. Once they are ready, put them straight into your shaker glass.

 

Next, squeeze out your 1 oz of lime juice, but save 1/2 of the lime rind. Roughly chop the rind into pieces, and place it into the glass, followed by the lime juice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, add your 1 oz of simple syrup.

Now use your muddler (or the hammer end of your bar spoon) to muddle together your ingredients. It is very important that you not over-muddle–4-5 depressions is plenty to integrate your ingredients without causing the mixture to become bitter.

 

Finally, add in your 2 oz of rum. We prefer to use a blended rum (like Wray & Nephew) in our mojitos for a little added flavor. You can use any type of rum you want, as long as it has not been barrel aged–you want a clear rum for a classic mojito.

Now, unlike with most shaken drinks, fill the shaker GLASS almost full with ice, pour the drink into the shaker tin, secure the two pieces, and shake. After 15-20 seconds, pour the entire contents of the shaker into your tall serving glass (including the ice!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last, and most important, ingredient in a Mojito is the sparkling water. We believe it is essential to use sparkling water, not club soda or tonic. We like to make our own with our SodaStream, but you can also purchase bottles at your local grocery store (just make sure that you are getting pure sparkling water!).

Pour the water directly into the glass to fill it–it should be approximately 3 ounces.

Once your glass is full, give it a quick stir to combine and then pop in a sprig of mint to garnish!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there you go! The Perfect Mojito! The best of the best when it comes to patio drinking in the spring!

Now that you have the recipe for the classic, check out our original Mojito creation: The Italian Job!