Just when you thought summer was all about shakes and fruit juices, Bacardi introduces the newest, most delicious way to cool down. Indeed, the best way to beat the coming hot summer nights is taking in the smooth minty flavor of the party scene’s coolest new drink of choice: the Bacardi Mojito. I’ve heard from a lot of people who had a taste of the Bacardi Mojito that they adore its fusion of a perfect alcoholic kick with refreshing taste.
To be sure, the Bacardi Mojito is tasty, but what people don’t know is that the birth of this drink has a very interesting story that dates back to the 1800s. It takes place off the coast of Cuba, when Pirate Captain Francis Drake and his band of men were pondering whether or not to seize the Aztec gold stored in Havana’s royal treasuries. However, before Captain Drake could set out on his attempt to sack the city, King Philip II was able to warn his governor in Cuba, leaving time for the city to prepare.
As 14 more pirate ships appeared on the horizon, and Havana braced itself for the worst, Captain Drake suddenly sailed away after firing only a few minor shots, much to the amazement of the inhabitants. But as he sailed away from the richest port in the West Indies, the Captain did not leave without impacting generations and generations of the Cuban civilization. It was around this time that one of his subordinates, Richard Drake, invented the cocktail known as the Draque, Drak or Drac, a concoction that he introduced to all the Spanish ports he was able to conquer and seize.
Initially created for medical purposes, the Draque was made by combining aquardiente (a crude forerunner of rum), sugar, lime, and mint. On one occasion, during one of the most massive cholera epidemics ever, narrator Ramon de Paula describes: "Every day at 11, I consume a little Draque and I am doing very well."
Ironically, it was during the mid-1800s, around the same time Don Facundo Bacardi Masso established the original Bacardi Company, that the aquardiente in the Draque was replaced with rum, and the drink was unofficially called Mojito, from the African word "mojo", meaning to place a little spell.
Today, Cuba’s oldest cocktail and world-famous Bacardi rum continues to place a little spell on all those who drink it. Experience the refreshing taste of the Bacardi Mojito rum – the delicious new drink of choice, especially for the hot summer nights. Salud y amor y tiempo para disfrutarlo!
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