The Co-Dependent Relationship of Rum’s Resurgence And The Mojito

With apologies to Madison Avenue advertising and marketing wizardry, there may be nothing more powerful in the spirits world than a cocktail whose time has come.
    That rare distinction of owning the house, holding patrons in a powerful revenue grip, has belonged to only a handful of drinks in the more than 100-year history of cocktailing in the United States. Some notable past honorees include the Martini, the Manhattan and the Margarita.
    But as with the other three Ms of the cocktail Mount Rushmore, there’s a lot of room for variety and points of difference, making the Mojito not merely a cocktail but a category. Specifically, the Mojito has opened the books for rum and brought consumers back to the spirit. And one hand feeds the other; that new interest in high-end rums is shoveling coal back into the red-hot bartending engine of the Mojito, with more versions of the drink to love.

Mojito Magic
    The high profile status that the Mojito enjoys today seems all the more amazing in light of the fact that, by many accounts, it wasn’t even on the radar of trendy watering holes before the year 2000.
    Edward Hamilton, a Chicago-born spirits writer and a rum aficionado, is the author of “Rums of the Eastern Caribbean: The Complete Guide to Rum” and the Ministry of Rum Web site. He says the Mojito was not only a non-bar starter stateside before the present decade began, it likewise was nowhere to be found in the islands either.
    “They were not on beverage menus. In the Caribbean, no one mixed them,” Hamilton recalls from his many trips there in the 1980s. “Outside of Cuba, it was not a big drink in the Eastern Caribbean. Not like Rum & Coke and the Daiquiri.”
    What happened to alter the cocktail status quo was that patrons grew tired of vodka and the Cosmo, a drink that Hamilton says got badly bastardized toward the wane of its revenue reign.
    “You go into a bar, and there are 20 different Cosmos,” he says. “Now people are tired of vodka, and they are looking for other refreshing drinks. The Mojito is a refreshing rum drink that answers the call.”
    In addition to its fresh palate appeal, Hamilton says the Mojito has it in the looks and presentation department as well. “It has a very nice visual appeal. The mint is a nice garnish, and the muddling is something that people like to watch.”

Rum Running
    It comes as no surprise to Hamilton that patrons are drinking rum again.
“Rum is regaining its reputation,” he says. “Most of us used to drink Rum & Coke, and the rum we were drinking was not very good-quality rum. But now, the quality of the rum that is being offered is much better. One of the important developments in quality has come from white rums that are aged longer and then carbon filtered to remove the color from the aging.”
    White is still the way to go in terms of a base spirit for a Mojito, Hamilton says, with brands such as Cruzan (their white rum is aged two years) and Florde Cana from Nicaragua among his favorites.
    Put in the perspective of the multi-billion-dollar global sprits industry, Hamilton says, “Mojitos are doing for rum what Cosmos did for vodka. Like the Martini, people are branching out from the Mojito into other drinks. (And) where a real Mojito is made with white rum, people are using others rums, and some are even using dark rums. It has opened up eyes to rum being a better spirit that they remember it being.”
    Ultimately, its longevity and the limits of its success will be determined by the extent to which integrity of the Mojito ritual of fresh ingredients and labor intensity is maintained, he says.
    “It is not so hard to make. And the Mojito is driving rum sales. Unfortunately, bartenders are taking a lot of shortcuts.”

Mr. Mojito
    One venue way ahead of the curve in anticipating the Mojito’s resurgence was Enrico’s Sidewalk Café in San Francisco.
    As far back as the mid 1990s, the Mojito was the house signature cocktail at Enrico’s, where Head Bartender and Master Mixologist David Nepove says it came to represent 10 percent of summer sales at the venue before it closed recently.
    “I personally feel like Enrico’s was a major influence in the Mojito craze,” Nepove says, “because we were such a tourist destination in the early part of 2000. We were able to share the Mojito. It went to other restaurants from Enrico’s.”
    Nepove didn’t set out to become so closely identified with the Mojito –– to the extent that he now sells a complete line of Mojito muddlers and makes appearances on cable television –– in addition to being employed full time with Southern Wine & Spirits. It just sort of happened after he showed up behind the bar with a little extra passion and love for the drink.
    “I would see the way a customer would react to a really well-made cocktail,” he says. “It was frustrating to me as to why other Mojitos were sent back, but mine were not. So, I made it a mission to see that there was consistency. And, in the end, it was the customers who singled me out as being Mr. Mojito.”
    And if he must be identified with but a single cocktail, Nepove is glad that it’s the Mojito, a true heavyweight contender when properly made and presented.                   NCB