Havana-Style Mojito

The Mojito was born at the La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana, Cuba, in the 1940s. Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway wrote “My Mojito in La Bodeguita,” which still can be read today, hanging on the wall. Others claim that this was a forgery, a marketing ploy of the restaurant owners to promote their mojito cocktail and bring in tourists after communism took over. Over the last decade, the Mojito has quietly become one of the most recognized drinks in the world. Today, people carelessly consume it regardless of the season or weather. But somewhere along the way, the mojito has been reconfigured as a short, stout, bittersweet rum hybrid of muddled lime wedges and pulverized mint. Then a friend of ours who went to film school in Cuba came back and pointed out that mojitos were supposed to be tall, light, and fizzy, clean and effervescent. We brought it back to its true form and labeled it the Havana-Style Mojito. Although it never made it onto our menu, it is the closest you can get to a true mojito without the luxury of Havana Club Cuban rum. It is a fantastic cocktail—but please don’t order it while there is snow on the ground.