Anthony Caporale: Welcome to the Art of The Drink Video Podcast. My name is Anthony Caporale, joining us today is Ashley.
Ashley: Hi!
Anthony Caporale: Welcome Ashley!
Ashley: Thank you.
Anthony Caporale: And in honor of Single De Mayo, we’re going to be making a Mexican Mojito.
Ashley: Sounds yummy.
Anthony Caporale: Now a traditional mojito is a rum based drink right? And rum comes from the Caribbean, because of Single De May,o which is a Mexican holiday, we’re going to be using tequila, which is a Mexican liqueur. The technique that we’re going to be focusing on today, is called muddling, and muddling is simply crushing fruit and sweetened syrup in the bottom of the glass, using this tool here which is called the pestle, and it basically creates a base for the drink. It adds flavor and sweetness to the drink.
What we’re going to start with is, a rocks glass, and in the base of the rocks glass we’re going to add about six to eight decent sized mint leaves, and to that we’re going to take a lime wedge, add that in, and about a half ounce of simple syrup. Now simple syrup is just a mixture of granulated sugar and water, one to one. So a cup of water, a cup of sugar, mix them up, and you get simple syrup and that just adds sweetness. Now we’re going to take our pestle and we’re going to crush all of this down in the bottom of the glass. The idea is to break the leaves up and release all the oils in the leaves, and also to release the oils in the skin of the lime, as well as getting the lime juice out. So you can see that I’m really kind of pressing down in there. I am using the pestle against the base of the glass to crush everything up, and when you’re done, the simple syrup should have turned green and you should have a nice mixture of the mint leaves and the lime wedge and the simple syrup in the bottom of the glass. That’s your base for the mojito. On top of that, I’m going to add a big scoop of ice, and again, we always fill our glass all the way with ice, that's to make sure that the drink is served at the right temperature, very important.
Ashley: Yes it is.
Anthony Caporale: And I’m going to add an ounce-and-a-half of tequila, and last we’re going to top it up with soda water, and if you don't have a soda can, you can just go buy club soda in the supermarket. All the way to the top, and to finish the drink I’m going to roll it, this is called rolling, you take the drink and pour it into the mixing tin, swirl it around and then back into your serving glass. Then we’re going to garnish the drink with a sprig of mint and a lime wheel. This is a real cool way to garnish a drink. You just take the sprig of mint and you thread it into the lime wheel and pin that whole thing to the side of the glass, finish it all with a cocktail stirrer, and now the Mexican mojito tastes even better, you want to try?
Ashley: Sure. In a glass.
Anthony Caporale: Yeah, great.
Ashley: Mint leaves.
Anthony Caporale: Mint leaves.
Ashley: And lime wedge.
Anthony Caporale: Right, exactly. Again about half ounce of simple syrup and it's great, nice touch.
Ashley: Well, thank you.
Anthony Caporale: Ashley is pressing it down into the glass, she is also twisting the pestle and that’s really important, because that's really what crushes the mint leaves and the lime wedge down the bottom. And you only got to kind of work at it, because you want to get as much juice and as much of those oils out of it, as you possibly can. That’s where all the flavor of the drink comes from, and that looks terrific, and a good scoop of ice, nice, and an ounce-and-a-half of your tequila. Terrific.
Ashley: And then soda?
Anthony Caporale: Soda all the way at the top, terrific and this is important. This is something that a lot of people forget. We always want to make sure the drink is well mixed. Fantastic, great, cocktail stirrer. There you go, Mexican mojito.
Ashley: Sounds great.
Anthony Caporale: Would you like to have some?
Ashley: Absolutely.
Anthony Caporale: Cheers. For more information on the Art of Making Drinks, be sure to visit us on the Web, at artofthedrink.com.
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