Mojitos for a Crowd, Yes You Can!

I have a long and sometimes blurred relationship with the mojito.  I love them, and I’d like to think they love me too.  As chance would have it, years ago I took a trip to Sitges, Spain, and my love of Spain and mojitos came together.  The mojito is the ‘unofficial’ drink of Sitges.  Of course, you can find mojitos everywhere these days, but in Sitges it is the signature drink.  They are everywhere, and they are made big and strong.  It may have something to do with the fact that the founder of Bacardi, Facundo Bacardi, was born in Sitges in the early part of the 19^th century.  Facundo, like many young ambitious Europeans of his time, headed west in search of opportunity.  In the Spanish colony of Cuba, he along with the help of his brothers established Bacardi and Company.

If you visit Sitges, you will find the Bacardi museum is the one, and I believe only, museum in town.  It’s a short and pleasant experience, where at the end, you will sit at the bar with the rest of your group and get a lesson in how to make a proper mojito.  You make your own and finish the tour chatting and drinking your mojito.  You must reserve your tour in advance, which is what makes this museum a

quintessential Spanish experience.  The museum is only open for a few hours a day, a few days a week.  Reservation can only be made by phone, and only when someone is working – which is only a few hours a day, a few days a week, unless there is a holiday, in which case they are not open.  Spain is very catholic, there is a holiday most weeks.  All of this is to say that after visiting Sitges for nearly 7 years, the stars aligned, and my friends and I finally had the pleasure of visiting the Bacardi museum.

I will be posting a blog about the Bacardi instruction on how to build a mojito, this blog is not that.  This blog is how to make a batch of Mojitos for a party.  A traditional mojito requires muddling and mixing that is perfectly fine for one or two at a time, but if you want to serve a crowd, building a cocktail that way is impractical.  As I was testing this recipe, I was also looking for a more foolproof method to ensure a quality outcome.  I’ve experienced very inconsistent outcomes with the traditional method, depending on how much juice I can produce through muddling and how completely dissolved and incorporated the sugar becomes with the syrup.

In my earlier blog around making your own mint syrup, I mention that a perfect use of a mint syrup is for mojitos.  That syrup is the basis for this recipe.  The only difference between a mint syrup, and a mojito syrup is the addition of lime juice.  I tested and prefer a 2:1 ratio for the mint syrup to lime juice, so once you’ve made your mint syrup, add half as much lime juice as you have mint syrup, and you have your mojito syrup.  You’ll need 2 oz. of mojito syrup for each mojito.

I had a rare opportunity to forget about the global pandemic recently with a reunion with longtime friends.  We get together for a weekend each year, and this year we COVID tested and quarantined so that we could keep the tradition.  It’s my job to bring the boozer blog drinks, and I am not allowed to show up without the party pitchers of margaritas, seriously the best margarita you’ll ever have, you can find that recipe here.  This year my friends were happy to be my test subjects for the party mojitos.  They were a hit, and exactly what you want to drink after a day on the lake.  Refreshing, and the mint flavor really comes through without all the time and effort required by traditional recipes.  I could make 6-8 mojitos at a time and I would be done in a minute or two.

Even with the mint syrup, I do still like to add a couple mint leaves to this drink.  This is one of the tricks I learned at the Bacardi Museum.  After you add your soda water, take two mint leaves and lay them flat in one hand, and with the other hand give them a good slap.  This will help activate the oils and flavor.  Add them on top of your drink and give a nice stir.

On a side note, for this recipe as well as the party margaritas, you can premix in the alcohol with the syrup.  Doing this would provide an opportunity for the flavors to infuse and become even more delicious.  Of course, with the mojitos, you would hold off on adding the soda water until you are ready to serve.  I tend to shy away from doing this for a few reasons, mostly to provide an opportunity to customize the alcohol content in case someone wants a drink with less alcohol.  But I also don’t always go through all of my syrup when I make them in big batches, and leaving the alcohol out gives me a bit more flexibility.

This syrup is pretty stable, and should not separate, but if it does, just give it a good shake before you use it.  Keep it refrigerated, and this will last a good month…if you don’t drink it first.  Cheers!