Read it ..

The year is 1586 AD

A former pirate,now operating on behalf of Queen Elizabeth's navy ,sails against the city of Havana,Cuba.

Havana's port location in combination with the geographical formation that surrounds it,makes it ideal in defending an assault.As a result,only after a few days efforts ,the attacking army abandonded any plan or hope for a succesfull operation and left the island.

This failure didn't overshadow all previous success,so the former pirate named Francis Drake would be known as Sir Francis Drake.

Back in Havana everyone had reasons to celebrate.They knew that Sir Francis Drake would attack the city,but they didn't expect that the attack would be so easily repealed. Every celebration is an occasion for creating a new drink,and that's exactly what they did!

A new drink was created and it's ingredients were:Aguardiente(when it comes to Cuba,aguardiente is the ancestor of rum,and was made from sugar canes.In Spanish it means fiery water from agua=water and ardiente=fiery),lime sugar and mint.The new drink asked for a new name,and in order to remember their success ,they named it after the famous attacker:El Drake,or Draque,or Drak.

There are several other stories about the creation of the first El Drake.One story says that it was created in one of Francis Drake's boats and named after him,another says that the drink is a variation of a Mint Julep(a cocktail with Bourbon whiskey,mint,sugar and bitters),and we can never tell which story is the true one.

But when it comes to bar stories,we always choose the most interesting one,even if it's not completely true!!

 

Almost 300 years later,the art of distillation had improved(If art is anything that lifts the human spirit in a greater level,then yes ,distillation is a form of art!)The sugar cane based spirit that  is produced in Cuba and the Carribean is better,a little bit more elegant and has a new name:Rum.

The Rum replaced Aguardiente in several cocktail recipes,and one of the first to do so,would be El Drake.So in around 1880 a cocktail with rum,sugar,lime and mint would help people through the hot days and keep good company in any occasion.The new drink would get a new name,and El Drake's successor was meant to be famous around the world:It's the Mojito.

Again,two stories battle for the name Mojito.The first one says that comes from the Spanish verb "mojar" which means "something wet".

The second story says that it comes from the African word "mojo" which means "I put a little spell".I prefer the second story,because defenitely some magic is included in such a great drink!

Mojito is one of the oldest cocktails but is still very popular ,and there is no reason to believe that it won't be popular in the future.It's light,refreshing and delicious,the ideal choice during hot summer days.

If in any case you need to make one on your own,here is what you have to do:

• Add several fresh mint leaves in a large glass.
• If you squeeze the leaves(i personally don't)please do it gently!!Otherwise they will give a bitter taste to the drink and less of the refreshing effect of mint.
• Add 50 ml of Rum,20ml of fresh lime juice,and 20ml of simple syrup
• Add crushed ice and stir it just a little bit,for the ingridients to mix and for the mint to add its refreshing scent.
• The original recipe asks for a splash of soda,if you don't like ingridients that just dilute your drink(like i do!)avoid this step!!
• Enjoy!!

        Thodoris Anagnostou