Avoiding the Fauxito
Cutting Corners Can Make a Mess of Your Mojitos

A few years ago, (fill in the rum brand)-tinis were cropping up on drink menus across the country, but imbibers never really gave light rum-tinis much credibility. When America rediscovered the Mojito, my favorite spirit began to gain the respect it had tried to earn for so many years.
    But there’s a lot more to this refreshing drink than muddled mint, sugar, lime and a splash of soda water.

Mojito Faux Pas
    A few years ago, when the Mojito started gaining popularity in the United States, no bartender would consider making this quintessential Cuban drink without fresh mint and fresh lime muddled with a hand-crafted wooden muddler. When consumers began looking for better rums for their classic Mojitos, bars began raising the bar with better silver rums; Cruzan, Flor de Caña and Brugal became known on drink lists. Even the kind of muddler used was a topic of debate, and Mr. Mojito muddlers became as well known as bar supply vendors such as EcoLab.
    Bar managers began looking for ways to save time and pump out more of them. Unfortunately, instead of a refreshing combination of sweet, sour, rum and mint, the Fauxito is quickly becoming the new standard. The fresh ingredients and the time to takes to muddle this classic drink unceremoniously are being sacrificed in the name of profits.
    Some experts say that the Mojito is passe, past its useful life, but I disagree. The Mojito is still a fine cocktail, but it needs to be treated with the respect it was getting a few years ago when bar owners cared about building their rum business.

Getting it Right
    So how does a bar manager balance the cost of labor, ingredients, customer satisfaction and profits?
    Few bar managers will deny that their rum sales have increased in the last 10 years, so let’s start there. Why the increase? Two reasons stand out: The quality of the sugar cane spirits behind the bar has improved greatly, and bartenders are using better ingredients to mix with those better spirits. According to the Distilled Spirits Council, the market for premium spirits is growing at double digits, while the market for the bargain brand spirits is losing ground. We’ve all heard it — America is drinking less but better.
    So you think freshly made Mojitos are costing you too much to make? In the islands, there is a plethora of rum shops where patrons go to get out of the sun and quench their thirst. And behind every bar are a few bottles of rum filled with spices and fruits.
    Large glass bottles dispensing rum infused with spice, pineapple or other fruits look nice, but the reality is that infused spirits change significantly with time. Unless you have a number of these containers in the back room and your bar manager is on top of the stock, the consistency of your spiced rum is going to suffer.
    Cinnamon, ginger and clove infuse into rum at different rates. So instead of infusing a combination of spices, infuse a few bottles of rum with only one spice in each bottle and then blend the flavors.         NCB