A Daiquiri's rum, lime and sugar stretched long over crushed ice and soda, turning a handful of pantry staples into something bracingly cool. Fresh mint is bruised against the sweetness and citrus until it perfumes the glass, and the fizz carries that green, herbal lift through every sip of clean white rum.
Garnish: Mint Sprig
built · Highball · Crushed
muddle
Lightly muddle the mint sprigs with the simple syrup and lime juice in the glass to release the oils without shredding the leaves.
build
Add the white rum and a splash of soda water, then fill the glass with crushed ice.
top
Top with soda water and give a light stir to lift the mint through the drink.
garnish
Garnish with a fresh mint sprig and a slice of lime.
No single inventor is recorded for the Mojito, and its exact beginnings remain debated, though the drink is generally traced to Havana, where it is thought to have grown out of older mixtures of sugarcane spirit, lime and mint. The most repeated legend points to "El Draque," a rough remedy named for Sir Francis Drake, though that drink was brandy-based and had not yet taken the Mojito name. A popular link to Hemingway also circulates, but scholars treat it with skepticism. Today the IBA lists the drink among its Contemporary Classics.