How to make the perfect cocktail || The Mojito
Who wouldn’t love a Mojito as summer kicks in (she says, whilst sitting staring out the window into the bleak grey sky spitting fat raindrops onto the sodden ground)?!
Whilst the weather outside may currently require a caramel latte more than an ice cold mojito, it’s still a great cocktail to have up your sleeve and whip out casually to impress once we do get some better weather and can, y’know, frolic around in flip flops munching BBQ food again…
With mojito’s, I really like the process of making them, they’re really simple, fresh, sharp and delicious, AND today I’ve treated you all to a lil’ summin’ as rather than just doing a standard “this is how you make a mojito” post, I actually went out and bought two pre-made varieties to taste test them. With the help of my beautiful asistant Adam of course (wouldn’t be a proper taste test if I know which was which so he had to help me.
Scientific huh?!.
We would have bought more, but going into Aldi, M&S and Morrisons was enough supermarket shopping for me in one afternoon – that, and there’s only so much mojito a girl can drink before she’s genuinely on the floor staring at the sky feeling like the 16 year old who used to think it was a great idea to go to parties after mixing some double strength apple and blackcurrant squash straight into a bottle of neat vodka and drink it with a straw…!!
*I can attest to the fact that one and a half mojitos down, plus a couple of cheeky glasses of wine before hand, I was not in quite that state, but I did feel rather tiddly.*
ANYWAY, ONTO THE MOJITOS, ALICE…
We purchased three different types.
#1 – Marks And Spencer’s Mojito juce drink – 0% alcohol it’s just mojito flavoured juice
#2 – Aldi ready mixed Mojito – I can’t remember exactly but I think it was about 4%
#3 – Homemade Mojito with Bacardi’s white rum based on my cocktail bar knowledge and this for comparison.
Although I fully intended just to try the two shop bought mojitos without any additions, in the object of fairness, I decided to make them all to roughly the same alcohol content which meant 2 shots in the homemade and M&S juice version, and one shot in the Aldi marginally alcoholic one. I can’t work out if this is a lot. Probably tbh…
I was also going to leave #1 and #2 without decoration and foliage, but I thought they looked bare, so chucked in a few mint leaves.
Homemade Mojito Recipe
- In a highball glass (or in this case, just a funky shaped IKEA babe), muddle half a lime chopped into 4 bits together with 2 heaped teaspoons of white sugar. (muddling means kinda crushing and squishing – either with a fancy “muddler” or just with the end of a rolling pin)
- Stir until the sugar has dissolved into the juice, hold about 10-12 mint leaves in the palm of your hand and clap hard (it sounds silly, I know, but I was taught that tearing mint leaves makes them bitter, clapping is the best way to release their mint oil) and then stir in your mint leaves
- Top with 2 shots of white rum and stir
- Cover with crushed ice and stir again to get even distribution of the lime and mint leaves
- Top with soda water until full and garnish with a sprig of mint and another wedge of lime
- If you want a spiced mojito, replace the white rum with spiced dark rum, and the soda water with ginger beer. Yum
Battle of the Mojito’s – Verdict
I got Adam to blind taste test them all (he sort of squinted when taking a sip of each – that counts, right?) and these were his impressions:
#1 (M&S) – Ooh juicy, strong flavours, very sharp, a bit more lemony than limey though. Could be dangerous as you can’t taste the alcohol, the darkest coloured cocktail
#2 (Aldi) – Wow this one is sweet. It tastes good, but a little bit too sweet, doesn’t have the same sharp kick to it. Would be nice on its own though if you didn’t compare them.
#3 (Homemade) – This one is good! Very limey and a good balance of rum and sweetness and sharpness. The most refreshing and nicest to drink.
So there you have it, I won! I really liked the M&S juice, which would be great to drink on its own or mixed with rum. The Aldi mixer was tasty, but when directly compared with the other two it just tasted a bit sickly. Hands down, if you can be bothered, make your own. Not only do they taste the best, it’s *probably* cheapest (I forgot to note down how much the other two were), and way more impressive to show of your newfound mojito skills!
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