"mojito" news and stories

It's funny how we're posting all these summer stories when the season doesn't "offically" begin for another two weeks. But we all know that summer really began on Memorial Day.

Food Network has their list for the Top 10 Summer Cocktails. None of the choices are really surprising, though I don't see how sangria is listed at #2, ahead of Gin & Tonic, Pina Colada, and Long Island Iced Tea. And is a Martini really a top summer drink? I think it's probably a big drink in general all year round, but I think that I would have put another drink in that slot before a Martini.

The site also has links to the recipes for each drink.

Not that I would ever turn down a real mojito, but if for some reason I had to eat a dessert instead of drinking a cocktail, I'd love this Mojito Cupcake, from food blog Vegan Yum Yum. The recipe in on the blog post, but as a summary, the cake is a modified version of the golden vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Soymilk was infused with traditional mojito flavors, mint and lime juice, rum and lime zest were added to the batter, and the frosting wass flavored with dark rum. The natural garnish is, of course, a wedge of lime (though a sprig of mint would be pretty, too!)

It seems cigars aren't the only luxury Cuban product that have been all but unavailable in the States. Until recently one couldn't get Havana Club rum in the U.S. Now Bacardi is relaunching the storied spirit as a premium brand.

Havana Club got its start in the thirties and was exported to the U.S. and elsewhere until Castro took over Cuba in 1960. At that time, the government took possession of the plant and began to manufacture the spirit. But Castro lacked the recipe to produce the true Havana Club.

Ramon Arechabala, whose family first created the rum, is quoted in The Miami Herald as calling the government's version "undrinkable." It was widely exported elsewhere, but unavailable in the U.S.

While I'm fascinated with the international trademark case that cleared the path for Bacardi, I can't stop thinking of mojitos for some reason.

Source

Sure, on any normal day, $35 for a bottle of rum may sound like a lot compared to what you would pay for say...generic "RUM" at the market, but $35 for Bambu White Rum is a steal compared to what your water and power bill will be after running your air conditioning for 30 days straight on full-blast.

Bambu is a triple-distilled product launched in the US last year. It is made to taste like traditional rum, yet for how white and light it is, it is more like vodka. To stay cool on this Monday's Happy Hour, muddle a couple of limes that that have been cut into wedges, a few mint leaves and a teaspoon of granulated sugar. Add ice, 2 oz. of Bambu Rum, and top the whole thing off with soda to make it sparkle.

$35 a bottle split over how many cocktails to keep you cool? Much cheaper than A/C.

Forget about lousy tomato juice and those miniature bottles of bad wine you had on your last airline flight. Bad beverages and boring cocktails are a thing of the past, or at least they are on Delta Airlines. In an attempt to spruce up their in-flight offerings, the airline has gone the way of so many restaurants and bars by introducing a signature cocktail.

The drink? The "Mile-high Mojitos." (They're great. Trust me, I had about three of them on my flight from Maine to Ohio last week. Of course, the only reason I know about these cocktails to begin with is because I was mysteriously upgraded for free. My lucky day apparently.)

And even though the Mojito wasn't prepared to my exacting specifications, with huge twigs of fresh mint, like they do at my favorite local bar, it was a pretty great cocktail. The mix contained the appropriate level of sweet and tart, cool and limey. So, next time you are flying Delta, by all means, order one. What else are you going to do? Read SkyMall magazine?