MxMo: Pain in the ass

Mixology Monday is four years old, and as four year olds go, it's been well-behaved and mostly hygenic. This week, the world of drinkblogging descends on McSologogy with tales of pain in the ass drinks... 859,000. Remember that.

Eight hundred and fifty-nine thousand. Big number. Sure, there are bigger ones, but 859,000 is the sort of number that seems really, really big while still seeming within in the realms of realistic possibility.

859,000 is, coincidentally, the number of results you get if you put "how to make a mojito" into Google.

The mojito is currently the most popular cocktail in Britain. In one year, we sold over 2,600 in three bars. No other 'classic cocktail' (one that we haven't created) broke 600. It's a storied drink with a rich heritage and connections to piracy's golden age and generally convoluted and remarkable history of rum.

It's an utter pain.

First, there's crushed ice which is all well and good if you happen to have some mechanical means of crushing ice. If not, the mojito is an easy and effective way to develop RSI. Second, there's the length of time it takes to make one. It's not up to Ramos Gin Fizz timings, but if you're making batches of six, seven, eight, you want something with a 10 second prep time, not a minute-and-a-half. Third, there's the question of mint which has its own foibles when it comes to prep and storage. And if you run out, no-one's interested in a daiquiri. Fourth - and this is where that 859,000 comes in - everyone's an expert. Remember that mojito you ordered one time in that bar in Cuba? It was the best ever - the drink that your bartender's getting cramp crushing ice for probably won't come close.

Think about it - the mojito should be the bartender's ideal of a pain in the ass but it isn't. Why? Because it tastes really good.

Mojito

Take a highball glass, and add a handful of mint leaves. Add some sugar - however you like it (syrup, brown, white, whatever. It's really not that important) - and lime juice - about 15ml should do. Add some crushed ice and a large measure of your choice of rum and mix thoroughly with a barspoon. Fill with crushed ice and top with soda/sparkling water. Garnish with a mint spring.

Mezcal's global village

"You have to remember," says Ron Cooper, "in 1995, there were three liquor companies on the Internet." It goes some way to explaining why he gives his web address as mezcal.com. But we're not here to talk about registering domains in the pre-Bubble era. Ron's been importing a range of single village mezcals since 1995 and they're starting to pop up in the UK. The Del Maguey range now includes eight mezcals, each made in a distinctive, traditional way by the local palenqueros. After a good dozen years of growing, agave - or maguey, as they're known in Oaxaca - plants are harvested and stripped of their leaves. The pinas (hearts) are then roasted in a conical pit over three to five days. Fermentation is left to wild yeasts before the distillation process that varies from village to village. The mezcal made in Chichicapa is run twice through a copper pot still, while in Santa Catarina Minas, the Minero comes out of a clay pot still. It's not only the type of still that changes - Del Maguey's Pechuga is distilled with almonds, fruit and a whole chicken in the still.

Watch What  creates  flavors  in  Mezcal in Lifestyle |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Not all of the range is as unconventional as the Pechuga. The latest addition is Del Maguey Vida. It's based on San Luis del Rio, one of Del Maguey's first single village mezcals, but it's distilled to a slightly friendlier 42%ABV - all of the Del Maguey mezcals are distilled at proof rather than being diluted to bottling strength - and they cut the distillate nearer the tails than the heads. It's reckoned to be a great mezcal for cocktails, which led to some great drinks from some of Edinburgh's best bartenders.

There was a rare bottle of Del Maguey Chichicapa from the first batch imported the US back in the 90s, and aged for 94 days in a Californian wine barrel up for grabs and in the end, it went to Jamie McDonald from the Raconteur for his twist on a Blue Blazer. Second place went to the West Room's Andrew Kearns with a straight-up sour with sage and rhubarb jam while third place was shared between Tonic's Tom Hodgkiss and, uh, me.

Todo Bien Tambien

50ml Del Maguey Vida
15ml Campari
1 barspoon agave nectar
8 mint leaves
the zest of one lemon, in thin strips

Combine the agave nectar, mint and lemon zest strips in the base of a glass with some crushed ice. Fill with crushed ice and add the Campari and mezcal. Mix well with a barspoon. Garnish with a mint sprig wrapped in a lemon zest twist.

*** 

There's often a lot of talk about filtration and purity and technology when it comes to discussing spirits, so it's refreshing to come across a series of products that are so focused on traditional methods of production. There's a tangible difference between the various liquids and it all comes from the particular ways that the palenqueros turn two things - maguey and water - into mezcal. There's a reward for this approach, too - Del Maguey Tobala (made from wild maguey plants; it takes a month to collect enough) was named as a semifinalist in the Tequila, Mezcal & Agave-based category at the 2010 Ultimate Spirits Challenge in New York.