DRINK UP: THE MOJITO (PT 1)

Ok everyone, remember a couple months ago when I told you about all those things I want to do by the time I'm 30? Well, I finally got around to working on one of them tonight. My mixed drink mastering. The sad news is, I didn't walk away with a winner. But I did walk away with some lessons learned, and some mojito remnants on the keys of my laptop, apparently.   

Since I was ultimately unsuccessful in my mastery for this round, I'll just tell you how I got started, and basically review the drinks I tried. 

I want my drink to be mojito-based, shall we say, but not necessarily a classic mojito, because that's a bit boring. Something with a twist will be nice. So anyway, I went for a classic, just for practice, a strawberry, and a champagne mojito. 

CLASSIC MOJITO:

So Classic

There are a million recipes out there for a classic mojito. I took mine from this blog, with one minor change - I substituted tonic water for the club soda, upon request of my test subjects. I'll explain how that request came about when discussing the strawberry mojito. 

The classic was the favorite. That tells me I should've started there. One thing I would probably also do next time, and contemplated doing this time, was making a mint infused simple syrup. I've made it lately for a couple different lemonades and it's good, I was just kind of lazy today. And since none of the recipes I found included it, I justified leaving it out. Ultimately, I'm hoping that will be my game changer in the next test run. 

CHAMPAGNE MOJITO:

Champagne Mojito

The recipe for the champagne mojito is one that I found on Pinterest as part of a list of ten different mojitos, all compiled from different blogs. I thought it sounded unique, and figured splurging on a cheap bottle of champagne while trying to fool my friends was time and money well spent. And it turns out, I was right! Now, I'll be the first to admit I don't know what the essence of a mojito is. I'm not sure what ingredients have to be included for the name to still stand. But I will tell you, there is no rum in this one. And I didn't realize that until I was making it. I assumed (because I didn't fully read the directions, just the ingredients) that it would be a combination of champagne and rum, with the champagne as a partial or whole substitute for club soda/tonic water. Not the case.

This was the clear favorite between the two non-classic mojito offerings. In fact, when the testing was done I made myself a larger one with a few of my leftover strawberries dropped in, just for good measure. Deliciousness.

STRAWBERRY MOJITO:

Strawberry Mojito

I got this final recipe here, and it's been sitting on my Pinterest drinks board for quite some time now, just begging to be tried. The execution was simple and straightforward, although I was getting a feel for making sample sizes based on instructions for whole pitchers. And I was measuring sans shot glass, since apparently my sister has purged her collection entirely. Now, this recipe I did not substitute anything, I followed it exactly. 

And I got some complaints. I found it to be a bit watery and bitter, and my sister gladly offered up her stash of tonic water, because she was not a fan of the club soda. I probably could've added a bit more sugar which might have helped, or allowed it to combine in the fridge for a bit. But I think the idea is to drink them freshly made, so that shouldn't be necessary. 

FOR THE FUTURE: 

I'll definitely be making a mint simple syrup. That will be the easiest way to sweeten and add mint to the drinks as needed. Also figuring out the lime ratio might be nice. The criticism of the classic was that it tasted a lot like a gin and tonic, which everyone else enjoyed but me. And no one was blown away by any of them. 

But you know what they say, practice makes perfect!

Have any mojito tips for my second trial run? I certainly need them!