The First Printed Cuban Mojito Cocktail 2 Versions - Cocktails After Dark - Glen And Friends Cooking
Almost everyone agrees that the birthplace of the classic Mojito is in Cuba… Beyond that there is a lot of disagreement, mostly clouded by the mists of time and a deep classic cocktail mythology based in enough historical fact that many believe it could be true.
The most pervasive mojito origin story reaches back to 1586 and Captain Drake - He and his crew land at Cape San Antonio Cuba and are given the recipe for a drink that was made up of aguardiente de caña (an early form of rum), lime, sugarcane juice and mint. Legend has it that this 16th century cocktail was named El Draque in honour of Captain Drake. There are of course holes in this story - Drake wasn’t making a social call in Cuba, he was in the area to harass and attack Cuban (Spanish) ports and shipping. So I’m not sure why the Cubans would be helping him out with a cocktail recipe. Second; there is no written record of any drink called ‘El Draque’ until a passing mention in a book published in 1833 by Ramón de Palma about a cholera outbreak in Havana. Ramón de Palma writes: “Every day at eleven o’clock I consume a little Drake made from aguardiente and I am doing very well.” Of course he wrote this in Spanish and actually says ‘el Draquecito’ - but makes no real mention of what it is, or what the other ingredients are.
The first real look we get at a cocktail recipe that resembles what we are now calling the Mojito is a cocktail in the 1927 Spanish cocktail book called “El Arte De Hacer un Cocktail y Algo Mas Libro de Cocktail”. In this cocktail guide it is called a Mojo Criollo cocktail, and it contains:
Vasito de ron
gotas de limón
Cucharadita de azúcar
Sirvase en vasito mediano con hielo y cucharita.
But as you can see - there is no mint!
In 1929 a Cuban cocktail book called ‘Libro de Cocktail’ has a recipe for ‘Mojo de Ron’
En un vaso mediano una cucharadita Milena de azúcar.
el jugo de un limón verde mediano, partido en dos.
La cáscara de una de estas mitades será restregada en el colador y echada en el vaso.
Un ramito de hierbabuena.
Varios trozos de hielo picado.
Dos o tres dedos de ron Bacardí.
Llénelo de agua de soda fria.
Con una cucharita larga revuélvalo.
This is pretty much what we would now call a Mojito cocktail - the next recipe in the book called ‘Mojo De Ginebra’ or mojo with Gin - But the name isn’t Mojito… That name would be applied to this drink by Sloppy Joe, of Sloppy Joes Bar in 1931.
So Sloppy Joe named it in a way that stuck, but Juan A. Lasa who wrote ‘Libro de Cocktail’ nailed the formula.
All of this be moot if we look at who was filling the bars of Cuba in the late 1920s - Americans - who would have brought with them a thirst for Mint Julep cocktails. Some believe that the Mojo de Ron and the Mojito recipe are direct riffs on the Mint Julep. The origins of the classic Mojito cocktail could be as simple as that. So if you are just starting out on your road to being an educated barfly, refining your cocktail chemistry and learning how to drink, follow along with cocktails after dark.
Sloppy Joe's Bar Rum Mojito:
1 teaspoonful of sugar
One half of a Lemon
1 Part of Rum
Seltzer water
Leaves of Mint
Shell of Lemon
Serve in a highball glass with cracked ice.
Sloppy Joe's Bar Gin Mojito:
The juice of a lemon
1 teaspoonful of sugar
Leaves of mint
1 Part Gin
Shell of lemon
Serve in a highball glass with ice.
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