Best Rum for a Mojito
Best Rum for a Mojito
The best rum for a Mojito is a clean silver or light golden rum with no added sugar. A Mojito already contains sugar, lime and mint; a sweetened rum throws that balance off before you have built the drink. Our pick is Bombarda Plunder, a Caribbean silver blend made with no added sugar, no colorants and no chill filtration.
What a Mojito needs from the rum
A Mojito is a balancing act between four things: rum, lime, mint and sugar. Get one of them wrong and the drink turns either sharp or cloying.
The trap most people fall into is invisible. A large share of commercial silver rums carry added sugar, and it is rarely disclosed on the label. When you then add simple syrup to the build, you are sweetening the drink twice. The mint flattens, the lime stops cutting, and you end up with something that tastes like a soft drink.
A rum with no added sugar keeps the sugar where you can control it — in the syrup, where you can taste and adjust.
Our picks
Plunder — our silver blend. Bright and clean, and the most natural fit for a classic Mojito.
Culverin — a 5 to 8 year golden blend from Barbados, the Dominican Republic and Panama. Drier and peppery, it makes a Mojito with more weight to it.
Drake — for a golden Mojito with real depth. See our Golden Mojito recipe.
What to look for in any rum
If you are choosing a rum for Mojitos and Bombarda is not on the shelf in front of you, the criteria still hold: look for a rum that states no added sugar, avoid anything described as "smooth" without an age statement, and be wary of silver rums that taste sweet on their own. A good Mojito rum should taste slightly austere neat — the drink supplies the rest.
The recipe
Two ounces rum, three quarters of an ounce fresh lime juice, half an ounce simple syrup, a generous handful of mint, soda water and plenty of ice. Press the mint, do not shred it. Full recipe and the story of El Draque, the 16th century Cuban tonic the Mojito descends from.
Frequently asked questions
Should a Mojito use white or dark rum?
A classic Mojito uses a silver or white rum, which keeps the drink bright and lets the mint and lime lead. A golden or lightly aged rum makes a richer variation often called a golden Mojito, and a heavy dark rum will usually overwhelm the mint.
Does rum with added sugar ruin a Mojito?
It does not ruin it, but it makes it harder to balance. Because you are adding syrup as well, a sweetened rum leaves the drink flat and overly sweet, and there is no way to take the sugar back out once it is in the bottle.
What rum do bars use for Mojitos?
Most bars use an inexpensive silver rum. Good bars use a silver rum with genuine character and no added sugar, because it is the difference between a Mojito that refreshes and one that cloys halfway down.
