Welcome back friends, it's Anders. Today we're
making mojitos. A lot of you have said, "Anders, make a mojito." So I say yes, let's do that. It's
summer and I want a mojito. Now this drink is quite simple with its ingredients. You have rum,
lime, sugar, mint, soda water. But I've seen this made millions of different ways. Today I'm going to show
you two ways that I make the mojito - a fast way and a slow way. All depends on how much time you have,
I guess. If you're new to the channel, happy you're here. Hit that subscribe button and notification
bell if you want more sips, tips, and recipes. Let's go make some mojitos. To the bar. The mojito has so many different variations, and it
kind of feels like a contemporary cocktail. However that might not be the case - actually is
not the case. I don't know why I even went down that path. But there are a number of different
stories as to how the mojito came to be, and all of it is pretty much folklore. I found no solid
evidence of the origin of this drink. However one fabulous story is that in 1586 Sir Francis Drake,
the one and only - world-renowned explorer, privateer, pirate, not-so-great guy - went to pillage Cuba. He
went to go steal gold that didn't belong to him from people who had it, who actually had stolen
it themselves so... And when he gets there he gets really sick, along with his crew. They had scurvy
and dysentery. If you ever believed in karma that would be the moment. Legend has it one of his
crew members went to shore and they collected local medicinal ingredients including mint, lime,
sugarcane juice, and some barks. And he brought it back to the ship and Sir Francis Drake mixed
it all up with aguardiente de caña, which is a harsh rum-like spirit - kind of the precursor to rum.
And he made this drink that they called El Draque. And everybody got drunk, but also got better, and
they went on their merry way. Anyway, somehow the Cubans picked up on this and they were drinking it
for 300 years before Bacardi came onto the scene and swapped out the aguardiente for light rum, and
created the mojito. But I've seen other stories that say that it has its origins in the mint
julep, some say that Hemingway made this drink popular, and even the name itself, mojito, could have
Spanish origins or African origins. But the first recipes we see in print are in the late 1920s and
early 1930s, which included soda water and ice. And this is really the mojito we have today. Now that
the history's out of the way, all this nonsense about pirates, let's make the mojito. I'm going
to show you two ways that I do this. The first is kind of quick and easy. As long as you have the
ingredients prepped ahead of time, this is perfect for a party. You can just churn out mojitos. The
second way is a little bit more labor-intensive. It takes a little bit longer, but if you are just
making yourself a mojito, or you and somebody else, this is just a tasty drink. So let's get started.
For the quick version we're gonna need light rum, fresh lime juice, a rich Demerara syrup - this is
two to one, two parts sugar to one part water, soda water, and mint. The rum I'm using is The Real
McCoy three-year. You can use any rum you want. I just really like this one. I used it recently in
the piña colada and it was fantastic. For the juice, this is fresh lime juice that I prepped ahead of
time. And same with the syrup. I prepped that ahead of time. If you do all of that early then making
the drinks is super quick. Once one person has a mojito, everybody wants mojito. I'll go over the
other ingredients when we make the second one. Let's build. We're going to start by grabbing a collins glass.
The first thing we want to do is grab 10 to 12 mint leaves. This is spearmint.
Give it a clap just to wake it up, release some of the oils, and just drop it right in. Then with
a bar spoon, I'm gonna kind of tap the mint leaves, pull them up on the inside of the glass, get the
oils out. We don't want to muddle and break up the mint leaves too much. Set that off to the side.
Then in a shaking tin, we'll start with the rum. So let's do two ounces of light rum. I'm then going to do half an
ounce of the rich Demerara syrup, and three quarters of an ounce of lime juice. Now we can add ice and shake. Just a quick shake is fine.
Just to chill and dilute. There we are. Now fill your collins glass with ice
cubes. You could use crushed ice, that would be good too, but I would add more sugar and more lime juice
if you do that. Pour the cocktail over the ice. With my bar spoon, I'm just gonna lift up some of
the mint, just to incorporate everything. Top it off with soda water. Say three ounces on this one.
It's a nice mint sprig. Wake it up again. Drop that right in there. You could add a wedge of lime
if you want. There it is. The fast mojito. Cheers! Extremely refreshing. Really nice. I really like
the Demerara syrup in this because it gives it a little bit more richness and depth than a straight
simple syrup. The mint is more of an accent. Delicious. Now the slower version. For this one, it's
going to be very similar in the ingredients. We're going to need light rum, instead of the syrup we're
going with a raw Demerara sugar, fresh lime - an actual lime, and mint. Oh, and soda water. Now to make this drink - let me make some room here. We're going to start again with the collins glass.
To that we're going to add the same 10 to 12 mint leaves. Wake them up. Easy. And to that I'm going to take
a tablespoon of raw Demerara sugar and add it to the collins glass. Now with the spoon I am going
to take the next minute or so just to stir it. And I'm not trying to mash up the mint. I don't
want to turn it into paste, so just drop it in and start stirring it around. The larger sugar
crystals want to fall to the bottom, but they'll slowly start pulling out some of those oils in
the mint. And the sugar itself will kind of become like a mint sugar. You'll start seeing the side
of the glass get a little cloudy. You can see why this is not a cocktail you would make at a party.
Some people might - I wouldn't. Lift up the mint, lift up the sugar, and what's going to be great about
this one is the sugar is going to dissolve slowly. So the cocktail will evolve as you drink it. Which
is nice because this will be a slower drinking mojito. It's also a good way to practice your
stirring technique. So my mint leaves are still intact - they haven't become mush. They're coated in
sugar and the sugar is coated in the mint oils. Set that aside. We're gonna add half a lime into this
because we also want the oils from the lime rind. So cut it in half and then take one half, cut
that into quarters, and just drop them right in. So now I'm going to use the muddler,
but I'm not trying to break up that mint. I'm just going to press down three or four times to get the juice out of the limes,
and also to express some of those oils. Two, three, four - that's it. Lift it up a little. We'll add that
same two ounces of rum right on top. Light rum is really easy. If you want to go a little heavier
on that I won't stop you. Now give it a quick stir, add some ice right on top, and top it off with
soda water. Stir just to incorporate everything. Lift up the mint and lime. Now I'm going to give
it one more cube, a little bit more soda, a nice sprig of mint. Drop the straw in right by the mint.
Well worth the effort. The slower mojito. Cheers! Yeah that's good. Mmm. I just got a nice sweet sugar crystal. It's part of the fun.
This drink is really nice if you're going to be sipping on your mojito a little slower.
It holds up to the last sip. This one - I'd say this one is more like a daiquiri with
hints of mint, and this one you get more of that sweet mint as part of the core flavor profile.
So there it is - one quick, one slow. Let me know which one you're gonna make. Thank you for watching.
Like and subscribe. I'll see you next time. Cheers! This one's better. [music fades]
