Quest For The Perfect Long Sundowner Or...

[Cuban]

Quite simply, I consider the perfect Mohito is Rum, Sugar Cane Juice, Mint Tea and Lime Juice.

This drink has been refined to suit my situation out in the wilds of Issan using what is avalible locally, so the omission of a splash of Angostura Bitters is because I can't resupply at will but a bottle are two is on my wish list for visiting friends and relatives.

The whole project was set in motion some weeks ago during an evening with other expats seeking an alternative to the standard beers and 'misc. spirit and soda' that is often the default alcholic drink for expat gatherings and sundowners at home. When I started thinking about adding lime to various sprirts it wasn't long (ten seconds) before making an 'Issan Mohito' sprung to mind.

I'm sure many people have there own take on the perfect Mohito as with any other classic subject, so please respond with your comments and improvements. But for me I seek a chilled alcoholic long drink without a fresh green salad element, so you can keep the sprig of mint garnish for your 5 star hotel cocktail bar along with the cherry on a stick.

The theory, I believe I'm correct in saying, of Thai long drinks is to add ice to cool and also dilute the beer or spirit and soda; chilling and making the beer etc. last longer. I've spent evenings with Thais that seem to get drunk quickly if there is a shortage of ice. For me I don't really want to waste space in the glass to ice, so think ahead and keep your ingredients in the fridge, including a few 10oz highball glasses in the ice box.

If you've had a Mohito somewhere at sometime I would guess that it was made with a nice rum (Havana Club or Bacardi maybe one of the flavored or a dark aged ones.), but the other ingredients were of a lower class. Like the use of powered sugar or a syrup. At least in Thailand (like Cuba) sugar cane juice is readily availble, a good sweet ingredient (but not over powering sweetness found in so many Thai soft drinks and sodas) that along with mint tea allows you to ignore any thought of using soda water in the drink, if you want a fizzy drink have a rum & coke and drink it through a straw, increases the effect of the alcohol. :-) (wink)

To prepare:

Chilled during the day or overnight...

Some glasses.

Mint tea: Take two bunches of fresh mint (not Yerba Buena this is Thailand!) for about 5 Baht at my local market, remove the leaves from the stalks (disgard) and shred the leaves finely. Soaked for about ten minutes in about 3/4 of a liter of boiled water, strain and disgard the spent leaves. Place the mint tea in an old rum bottle and store in the fridge, good for a few days. I've never had enough long enough to go off.

Sugar Cane Juice (Nam Oy): Sold at road side stalls and some markets, 20 Baht for a 330ml plastic bottle usually including a bag of ice and a straw. Place the bottle in the freezer compartment of the fridge and shake roughly a few times during the day. The ideal result is a semi solid solution of slushy sugar cane juice just before you make the drinks. (If you can say that sentence aloud without error after a few glasses you should add more rum until you can't.)

Rum (Sang Som): Or use what you have avalible, around here we are paying 210 Baht for 70cl bottles, amount per glass to suit your personal taste, for me two fingers worth at the bottom of the glass is fine. Again I keep the rum in the freezer section, you can add some rum to the sugar cane juice to act as an anti-freeze if you like, but try to remember and adjust the final rum measure when mixing the drinks otherwise it can be a bit strong. A little tip on this point, decant the rum into the smaller 300 milliliter hip-flask style bottles, in the freezer the larger surface area allows the rum/bottle to cool more quickly.

Lime juice: Now I admit I'm still experimenting with this point. I've tried pure juiced fresh limes and found it a bit too sharp but that might have been due to the amount used. What I'm currently drinking is the concentrate made with "shock-horror" artifical lime juice, 18 Baht a bottle at the market stall. I have that diluted already as a lime squash drink during the heat of the day it's a good thirst quencher. Experiment for your own palate is all I can say.

When mixing, I simply add each item to the pre-chilled glass in turn; first the rum (20%), then the lime (heavy dash or 5-10% if dilute already), 30% slushy sugar cane - ideally it forms an slushy layer of ice at the top of the glass, finally the mint tea poured in through the ice layer to mix the drink. No measures need to be used. It's different each time and allows for the pursuit of happyness to continue.

Enjoy.

[bkkjames]

wow cuban, a topic that surely motivates you.

but i fear that it won't last long in the general forum - destined for the far off bowels of TV, otherwise known as Western Food in Thailand forum or if it doesn't quite cut the mustard there, you could always try the "I drink too much" forum under the health section.

that being said, it does get the old saliva flowing. could use one now come to think of it.

I like the whole Isaan Mohito thing though - just be careful to trademark the name befor TAT tries to call it their own. What is the name of that drink they are talking about these days : Thai Sunrise, Tequila Sundown?

good luck all the same.

[Cuban]

...agreed, I was tempted to put it in Issan or even Bedlam.

If it dies a death here too quickly it can be moved somewhere else - at least a record has been laid down for future generations.

[daoyai]

I like my mojito crude, in a thick glass put the sugar, mint stalk, and lime and crush with pestel or other blunt trauma weapon, add ice and rum, yes I even even use Sangsom.