Mojito
One of the greatest rum drinks ever. Created by pirates, drunk everywhere; mint, lime and loads of rum.
The earliest mentions of the Mojito are from 1931 edition of the Sloppy Joe’s Bar Manual. It is definitely a Cuban drink and gained popularity as an alternative to the perennial favourite, the Daiquiri. However, the Mojito is a re-naming of the El Draque. This beverage was mixed up by Richard Drake while serving under Sir Francis Drake, whose nickname was El Draque. We assume he had a fiery temper to match the fiery flavour of the first Mojito style drink. Mint, sugar and lime mixed with aguardiente, an unrefined, very strong, very harsh rum. Although Sir Francis Drake sailed for England, he was in every other way a pirate who terrorized the Caribbean during the 1500’s. Drake used Cuba as his base and from there sailed and plundered Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia. All of those countries have drinks called El Draque or the Draquecito, little dragon, to remember him by.
