mojito caballito

1 1/2 oz White Cuban Rum (Angostura White Oak)
1/2 oz French Vermouth (Noilly Prat Dry)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1 tsp Sugar
8-10 leaf Mint

Muddle mint in the sugar and lime juice (I stirred the lime juice to dissolve the sugar. I then added the mint, muddled, and removed the leaves). Add the rum and vermouth, fill with crushed ice, and top with 1 1/2 oz soda water. Garnish with a mint sprig and a spiral cut peel of a whole lime as a horse's neck.

Two Saturdays ago, I had been thinking about the Mojito after having made a few score of them at work. I turned to Beachbum Berry's Potions of the Caribbean to read up on the history. The drink was created in the early 1900s in Cuba and appealed to Bourbon-loving Americans for it was the "Latin American stepchild of the Whiskey Collins and the Mint Julep." Berry also linked the drink to the early 19th century Draquecito consisting of aguardiente, lime, sugar, and herba buena mint. Sloppy Joe's in Havana took the classic and added three variations, and the one that appealed to me was sourced from the 1931 Sloppy Joe's Bar Cocktails Manual; it stood out with its inclusion of dry vermouth as well as the horse's neck garnish. The variation was dubbed the Mojito Caballito, and "caballito" meant "little horse."
The Mojito Caballito greeted the nose with a mint bouquet. Next, a crisp, carbonated lime sip transitioned into rum, herbal, and mint flavors on the swallow.