How to mix a perfect mojito

Mojitos are a wonderful combination of light rum, fresh limes and fresh mint.

Step 1: In a mixing glass, add four quarters of lime and ten fresh mint leaves, and three teaspoons of sugar.

Step 2: Using a fun tool called a muddler, mash the ingredients together in the glass until the juice from the limes begins to dissolve the sugar. You want the three ingredients to be well combined.

Step 3: Add 2 ounces of light rum. Shake it together over ice until it’s well-chilled.
Strain the cocktail into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice. If there are some bits of mint in the glass, that’s fine.

Step 4: Leave a little space at the top to add some club soda for a little extra texture and refreshing quality.

Step 5: Garnish with a lime wheel and another sprig of mint.

I'm Allen Katz for Howdini.com, and today I'm going to teach you how to make a mojito, one of the great classic cocktails that is a wonderful combination of light rum with fresh limes and fresh mint. Now to begin, I'm going to take in my mixing glass and add four quarters of a fresh lime and about ten fresh mint leaves. I'm simply going to add three teaspoons of granulated sugar.

Now we're going to use one of the most fun tools for the bar set, called a muddler. It's simply a fun name for a pestle. And using the bar glass as a base, I'm going to mash those ingredients together until the juice from the limes begins to dissolve the sugar. You really want to release a lot of the flavors and aromas from all three ingredients until they're well combined.

Now once you're finished, you simply add two ounces of light rum. And we're going to shake that very vigorously over ice, so that any remaining residual sugar is diluted and all of the flavors come together in this beautiful but simple cocktail.

Now once it's well chilled, we'll simply remove the top part from our mixing glass. And in an old-fashioned glass filled with ice, we'll simply strain the cocktail. And it's OK if you have little mint bits in the drink. It's wonderfully aromatic.

And you want to leave just a little bit at the top, because to finish the drink, we're going to add a little bit of fresh club soda, just to add a little bit of texture and a little bit of a refreshing quality. Now to garnish, we have a little bit of a lime wheel and then one more fresh sprig of mint for both beauty, but also for a little bit of an aromatic. I'm Allen Katz for howdini.com.