Mojitos are my wife’s favorite drink so I make them a lot, and early on I read somewhere (no longer recall) that it’s good to start by muddling the limes in the glass with dry sugar because then the lime oil gets in the drink. So I do that and leave the limes in after mushing the mint around a little too. The downside of this technique is the drink isn’t quite cold enough but when it’s so hot outside it’s all relative and the ice works its magic eventually
Interesting — the lime muddle technique is more or less what I do with a G&T (which as it happens is my wife’s favorite warm weather drink). I hadn’t thought to try that with a more traditional sour format, but it makes total sense — makes it even more like a DeGroff style smash.
The problem I've encountered with the muddled lime approach is that it sometimes extracts too much bitterness from the pith. It's fine in a mojito, where there's a lot of sweetness and savory mint to balance things out, but muddled limes have wrecked the balance of a few of my tiki experiments. My sense is that it's generally worth the little bit of extra effort to take a rasp to the lime and throw only the zest into the muddle. It dooms you to a double-strain, but that's not such a big deal either.
Another experiment: I sometimes put a few drops of olive oil into the muddle, in hopes of extracting more fat-soluble aromatics. I haven't yet gotten around to blinded trials to see if it makes a significant difference in the final drink. Anybody else experimented with mini-fat-wash in the muddle?
The other thing about this technique is it’s variable and imprecise because you don’t really know how much lime juice you’re getting, so I use the soda to tweak it—but mostly I just like using the muddler because it’s fun. While I’m going on and on though, I did have a question for you—did you ever consider framing this post around “Mojito: a daiquiri or a julep?” That seemed like a Suderman’y question floating around the ether.
I’ve debated this before (with myself) and looked at a number of specs.
There is definitely a split with Death & Co and Milk & Honey (and Attaboy) landing in the no club soda camp.
And PDT, Jelani Johnson (Punch Ultimate winner), Tom Macy, Morgenthaler, DeGroff, Employee’s Only, Leyanda, the Aviary, and a few other specs I found in some books and online (including Drinking the Devil’s Acre, Joy of Mixology 2, Cuban Cocktails, RumDood, and the Hawthorne) landing in the club soda camp to varying degrees.
After testing a number of recipes I do prefer the club soda version if made properly…. But if the drink isn’t extremely cold (including the added club soda) it can quickly become a diluted mess.
For anyone who is a home-brewer or for some other reason has a CO2 tank and associated accoutrements, you can carbonate any beverage with an empty plastic soda bottle and a ~$5 fitting. I have, on multiple occasions, used it to carbonate things that are traditionally (or at least occasionally) served with club soda/soda water but I didn't want to dilute it.
A soda stream is probably more common, but I've heard that you are not actually supposed to use those with liquids other than water, and since I am one of the aforementioned weirdos who has a CO2 tank and the associated accoutrements, I've never tried so don't know enough to gainsay the advice.
See, I’m a sodastream guy, and I have never quite gotten to the point of building a home carbonation rig. It always seems like something I should do—and then Saturday afternoon rolls around and I just end up reading a book instead.
But I have definitely heard bartenders enthuse about the benefits of fully carbonating drinks that are more typically soda topped. Good idea!
I have always made my mojitos with ginger beer instead of club soda. I'll give the no soda recipe a try because I always found the club soda varieties, well, boring. And I have a great deal of mint from a friend who foolishly planted mint in the ground, where it is now taking over his flower bed.
Headline: are there legitimate uses for Creme de Menthe outside the infamous grasshopper?
At the risk of shameless self-promotion, I note that I initially arrived in the cocktail universe on the magic carpet of the idea that mint-family herbs might have health benefits:
As you can imagine, the bottle of industrial-green Starlight-mint DeKuyper Creme de Menthe leapt out at me in the liquor store back in the dark days of the pandemicene. Are there legitimate uses for this lurking back-of-cabinet elixir? I'm asking because tonight I put three drops of absinthe into my anise-aversive husband's mojito and, like the princess and the pea, he summarily rejected it. Wouldn't three drops of creme de menthe be better strategy for tomorrow night's mojito? Or is that sort of like invoking individually wrapped Kraft cheese slices on the dessert tray at a fancy restaurant?
Mojitos are my wife’s favorite drink so I make them a lot, and early on I read somewhere (no longer recall) that it’s good to start by muddling the limes in the glass with dry sugar because then the lime oil gets in the drink. So I do that and leave the limes in after mushing the mint around a little too. The downside of this technique is the drink isn’t quite cold enough but when it’s so hot outside it’s all relative and the ice works its magic eventually
Interesting — the lime muddle technique is more or less what I do with a G&T (which as it happens is my wife’s favorite warm weather drink). I hadn’t thought to try that with a more traditional sour format, but it makes total sense — makes it even more like a DeGroff style smash.
The problem I've encountered with the muddled lime approach is that it sometimes extracts too much bitterness from the pith. It's fine in a mojito, where there's a lot of sweetness and savory mint to balance things out, but muddled limes have wrecked the balance of a few of my tiki experiments. My sense is that it's generally worth the little bit of extra effort to take a rasp to the lime and throw only the zest into the muddle. It dooms you to a double-strain, but that's not such a big deal either.
Another experiment: I sometimes put a few drops of olive oil into the muddle, in hopes of extracting more fat-soluble aromatics. I haven't yet gotten around to blinded trials to see if it makes a significant difference in the final drink. Anybody else experimented with mini-fat-wash in the muddle?
The other thing about this technique is it’s variable and imprecise because you don’t really know how much lime juice you’re getting, so I use the soda to tweak it—but mostly I just like using the muddler because it’s fun. While I’m going on and on though, I did have a question for you—did you ever consider framing this post around “Mojito: a daiquiri or a julep?” That seemed like a Suderman’y question floating around the ether.
Thanks for another great article.
I’ve debated this before (with myself) and looked at a number of specs.
There is definitely a split with Death & Co and Milk & Honey (and Attaboy) landing in the no club soda camp.
And PDT, Jelani Johnson (Punch Ultimate winner), Tom Macy, Morgenthaler, DeGroff, Employee’s Only, Leyanda, the Aviary, and a few other specs I found in some books and online (including Drinking the Devil’s Acre, Joy of Mixology 2, Cuban Cocktails, RumDood, and the Hawthorne) landing in the club soda camp to varying degrees.
After testing a number of recipes I do prefer the club soda version if made properly…. But if the drink isn’t extremely cold (including the added club soda) it can quickly become a diluted mess.
Another debate is strain or no strain :)
For anyone who is a home-brewer or for some other reason has a CO2 tank and associated accoutrements, you can carbonate any beverage with an empty plastic soda bottle and a ~$5 fitting. I have, on multiple occasions, used it to carbonate things that are traditionally (or at least occasionally) served with club soda/soda water but I didn't want to dilute it.
A soda stream is probably more common, but I've heard that you are not actually supposed to use those with liquids other than water, and since I am one of the aforementioned weirdos who has a CO2 tank and the associated accoutrements, I've never tried so don't know enough to gainsay the advice.
See, I’m a sodastream guy, and I have never quite gotten to the point of building a home carbonation rig. It always seems like something I should do—and then Saturday afternoon rolls around and I just end up reading a book instead.
But I have definitely heard bartenders enthuse about the benefits of fully carbonating drinks that are more typically soda topped. Good idea!
I have always made my mojitos with ginger beer instead of club soda. I'll give the no soda recipe a try because I always found the club soda varieties, well, boring. And I have a great deal of mint from a friend who foolishly planted mint in the ground, where it is now taking over his flower bed.
Headline: are there legitimate uses for Creme de Menthe outside the infamous grasshopper?
At the risk of shameless self-promotion, I note that I initially arrived in the cocktail universe on the magic carpet of the idea that mint-family herbs might have health benefits:
https://cbuck.substack.com/p/tv-review-live-to-100-secrets-of
I also entertain the hypothesis that simply sniffing menthol crystals could be a healthy activity:
https://www.sciencealert.com/surprising-link-between-menthol-and-alzheimers-discovered-in-mice
As you can imagine, the bottle of industrial-green Starlight-mint DeKuyper Creme de Menthe leapt out at me in the liquor store back in the dark days of the pandemicene. Are there legitimate uses for this lurking back-of-cabinet elixir? I'm asking because tonight I put three drops of absinthe into my anise-aversive husband's mojito and, like the princess and the pea, he summarily rejected it. Wouldn't three drops of creme de menthe be better strategy for tomorrow night's mojito? Or is that sort of like invoking individually wrapped Kraft cheese slices on the dessert tray at a fancy restaurant?
P.S. I truly honestly love Kraft cheese slices. I also adore fancier cheese, but it might be a tough call for me on the dessert tray.