My Original Mojito

½ cup sugar
½ cup water
10 fresh mint leaves, plus more for garnish
½ lime, plus lime slices for garnish
1½ ounces light rum*
1 drop Angostura bitters*
Ice and club soda as needed

Make a simple syrup: Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and boil, stirring just until sugar dissolves, 1 to 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.*

Place 6 mint leaves and lime half in a cocktail glass. Muddle thoroughly, (watch video), by crushing to release lime juice and essential oils from mint. Add rum, 2 to 3 tablespoons simple syrup (to taste) and bitters. Blend well, using a cocktail shaker or spoon. Strain into a serving glass. Add 4 more mint leaves to glass.

Fill glass about 2/3 full with ice and top off with club soda to taste. Stir well. Garnish with mint leaves and lime slices and serve.

* Notes

Simple syrup can be used to taste. Refrigerate the extra for up to a month. If making a lot of Mojitos, double recipe.

Dark rum can be used.

Bitters are optional, but even this small drop adds depth and is a Key West secret.

Here’s how this Mojito differs from Bacardi’s Original recipe and those I’ve sampled in Miami restaurants:

I strain the liquid after muddling and shaking to rid the drink of mint fragments and lime pulp that sticks in the teeth and makes you think you’re drinking something a bit too organic for a celebration. (And lets you enjoy every last drop without fighting aforementioned fragments in the final sips.)

And bitters, which is a trick I learned while sampling a lot of Mojitos in Key West and determining that something was special about one in particular. One bottle of bitters is likely to last a lifetime, and it’s not expensive. Totally worth it.

Finally, you’ll notice this recipe isn’t precise. Each Mojito is a work of art. One of a kind. All good. Make to taste on the syrup, rum, ice and soda front, so long as you muddle. And use the bitters.

When it comes to a Mojito, does anybody really care?

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